Consultative meeting between office of the chief of staff and head of public service with chairs of board audit commitees and heads of internal audit in state departments which took place at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi, on 5th December, 2023, Nairobi
Economic Planning Principal Secretary James Muhati attended a consultative meeting between the Office of the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service and Chairs of Board Audit Committees and Heads of Internal Audits in State Departments which took place at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi, on 5th December, 2023, Nairobi. The COS&HOPS Felix Koskei was the chief guest during the occasion.
The meeting themed ‘Strengthening the Internal Audit Function as a Key Driver for the Implementation of the Zero Fault Audit (ZFA) Regime aimed to inform, sensitize and educate the oversight duty bearers in the internal audit function. The meeting was also to seek ways of strengthening the internal audit function in public entities.
The Zero Fault Audit Regime is an approach that is used to reinforce good governance, integrity, accountability, transparency and global best practices within the Kenya Government institutions.
In his remarks the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei said that the Audit fraternity is supposed to practice their mandate with integrity so as to avoid loss of Government funds. He said that the auditors’ role could not be gainsaid, therefore, they should enhance their expertise, share and escalate for any support in order to achieve the Zero Fault Audit campaign goal.
On his part, the Economic Planning, Principal Secretary James Muhati, emphasized that the Government needed to walk together with the Internal Auditors by supporting them wholly.
These consultations came on board after the Zero Fault Audit Campaign that was launched on 21st September, 2023 by the Office of the COS&HOPS. It’s initiative was to plug in the existing gap and help the Kenya Kwanza Administration address most of the vices associated with corruption which continue unabated because of the audit queries. The key elements of the ZFA campaign are therefore targeted towards directing public entities to resolve existing audit queries.
During the meeting it was highlighted that all public institutions should observe a ZFA regime, since it was noted that 30% of audit issues arising from the audit reports of FY2021/22 and 2022/23 had either not been fully addressed, recurred or were unqualified reports during the FY2021/22 but had been made clean the following FY2022/23.
It was therefore notable that the internal audit function is an integral part of an organizations risk management and governance structure, playing a preventable role by identifying, assessing, and addressing potential risks before they escalate into audit queries. If internal auditors and board audit committees perform their independent roles of objective assurance, monitoring and reviewing risks, controls and governance process effectively, the Kenya Kwanza regime will be able to achieve the ZFA, with no audit queries from the external auditor.
In attendance were: Principal Administrative Secretary, Executive Office of the President, Mr. Arthur Osiya, Principal Secretary, State Department for Investment Promotion, Abubakar Hassan Abubakar, and Ag. Internal Auditor General, CPA. Jane Micheni, among others.
