The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy (PIC CA&E) has advocated for sector-based roundtables as part of a faster strategy to resolve audit queries related to State Corporations with similar scopes of service delivery.

This was disclosed by the Committee Chairperson, Hon. David Pkosing (Pokot South), who also stated that the MPs were able to resolve 105 of the 109 queries raised by the Auditor-General in five corporations within the energy sector.

Hon. Pkosing said this as he moved a motion for the adoption of the Fourth Report of the PIC CA&E on its examination of the audited financial statements of five State corporations in the energy sector for three consecutive financial years running up to FY 2022/23.

The five state corporations were the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), and the Nuclear Power and Energy Company (NuPEA).

As he moved the Motion which was seconded by Nairobi County MP Hon. Esther Passaris who also serves in the Committee Hon. Pkosing noted that the roundtable strategy eases interrogation of audit findings within the broader policy and operational environment of the state agencies.

Before drafting the Report, the Committee met the individual state corporations, and also held a roundtable with representatives of the Ministry of Energy, the National Treasury, Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and the managements of the agencies under review for discussion on how to resolve crosscutting queries.

“This is one of the easiest ways to ensure that Kenyans get value for money because some of the recurrent audit matters are crosscutting and can be resolved in that way,” Hon. Pkosing told the House.

Cumulatively the Committee reviewed a total of 195 audit queries across the five state corporations, out of which 105 were resolved leaving only 92 as unresolved.

Previously, the Committee had used the roundtable strategy when it considered queries related to seven state agencies under the roads and transport sector; where out of a total of 248 queries, 140 were resolved.

Debate on the two reports is pending before the House, as the Committee currently continues review of audited accounts for state agencies in the water sector.