Ruto's Single Paybill Order Puts Billions at Risk of Being Stolen, Says Auditor General

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has expressed concern over President William Ruto's directive to have a single-pay bill account for all government payments.

Gathungu warns that weak controls may lead to the theft of billions of shillings. Since July, all state entities have been required to channel their collections through the 222222 pay bill rather than having separate pay bill collections. The Treasury expects to collect about Sh350 billion from service fees and other charges this financial year, but Gathungu fears that the lack of internal controls makes it susceptible to embezzlement. Gathungu presented her concerns while appearing before the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee led by Ndindi Nyoro.

"I have already raised some concerns with the treasury about internal controls. If we decide to put all our eggs in one basket, we must be sure that we have plugged all the loopholes in revenue collection," she told MPs.

As per Ruto's orders, all state departments have closed their pay bill numbers and switched to the new number in the interest of financial management realignment. However, this directive has caused confusion with some tourists recently being barred from accessing parks because they could not make payments. The payment of entry fees was hindered due to a delay caused by a large number of transactions carried out through the system, resulting in tourists having to wait in long queues for hours.

The Treasury has issued a new directive to consolidate funds and prevent state agencies with excess cash from holding idle funds which will help the government struggling with debt repayments. Interestingly, Ruto had previously argued that collapsing the multiple pay bill numbers would help the Office of the Auditor General conduct proper audits of government accounts.