Jubilee Party Under Fire Over Sh1 Billion Irregular Expenditure

The Jubilee Party has been censured by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu due to financial irregularities in the expenditure of more over Sh1 billion allotted to it.

The irregularities are related to unapproved expenditure, unsupported campaign and election expenses, office and rental expenses, revenue, staff costs, questionable use of goods and services, inaccuracies in legal expenses, and grassroots and field programs, an audit of the party’s accounts for the 2020–21 fiscal year that was submitted to Parliament shows.

According to the report, payment vouchers totaling Sh298.78 million were not approved by the appropriate party authority as needed and lacked the accounting officer’s and the holder of the power to incur expenditures’ authorizing signatures.

On June 23, 2021, the party paid Sh206.33 million for the division of its party headquarters. The auditors claim that other from a letter dated June 23, 2021, there were no other supporting papers, such as contracts, completion certificates, and invoices.

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The audit shows that despite the party’s claims to have spent Sh176.82 million on campaign and election costs, the payments were made in cash and the payment vouchers supplied for audit were not backed by the necessary paperwork.

Additional Sh115.39 million was invested on community-based and field initiatives. However, the auditors were given payment vouchers totaling Sh185.58 million. The audit report further states that withdrawals of Sh168.77 million were made for various field and grassroots programs.

“In the circumstances, the accuracy and completeness of the expenditures could not be confirmed,” the report states.

Lease agreements were not used to substantiate the Sh22.72 million spent on office rental costs, and payment vouchers for rental costs totaling Sh105.41 million were not given to the auditors for inspection. The party management has also been criticized for breaking the law by failing to register the leases for its national office and county offices with the Ministry of Lands.

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According to the financial statements of the party that were submitted for audit scrutiny, Sh96.73 million was accounted for as public contributions and donations. However, there were no records to back up the revenue that would have provided a breakdown of contributors and the source of the funds.

Sh10.1 million in commercial bank accounts inherited from the disbanded The National Alliance and United Republican Party are among the documents that were made available for audit.

However, the auditors were not given the bank statements and balances confirmation certificates for the accounts at the time of the audit.