The management of Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) is on the spot for spending Sh6.8 million to attend an award ceremony in Mauritius.
The management sent a strong delegation of eight board members and 12 staff to represent the KICC for the World Travel Award (WTA).
The huge payment was in the form of per diems and exclude the cost of air tickets and accommodation.
The WTA, which reward excellence across all sectors of the global travel and tourism industry, had in 2019 named KICC Africa’s leading meetings and conferences destination. KICC also retained the award in 2020.
“It is not clear why the corporation incurred such high expenses in sending a huge delegation of staff members in a single award ceremony when fewer members could have represented the KICC adequately and reduce such expenses,” said Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in the latest audit of KICC.
She indicted the management for breaching section 68(1) of the Public Finance Management Act in spending a huge amount of money to travel to Mauritius for the awards.
Ms Gathungu says the law requires an accounting officer for a national government entity to ensure that resources are used in a lawful and authorised manner, which is also effective, efficient, economical and transparent.
She also flagged the KICC for making an irregular payment of Sh1,506,639 ($14,816) to an accountant who did not travel to the Mauritius award ceremony.
“It was noted that the said person was not a board member nor was he among the staff nominated to represent the corporation in the award ceremony,” said Ms Gathungu in an audit tabled in Parliament last week.
The auditor also raised an anomaly where the KICC board members were paid their per diem in cash instead of making payments through their respective bank accounts. She said no evidence was provided to show that the board members acknowledged receipt of the money.