- MPs have deferred the review of Maasai Mara University’s audit reports after clashing with VCObudho over the absence of key finance, procurement and legal officers.
- MPs have flagged nine unresolved audit queries dating back to 2018, including doubtful contracted services, unsupported cash balances and irregular allowances, which the university has yet to formally address.
- The committee has ordered the university to resolve the outstanding queries with the Auditor-General’s office and return in two weeks with both current and former officials, including those from Prof. Mary Walingo’s tenure during the 2019 “Mara Heist.”
A parliamentary watchdog committee has deferred scrutiny of audit reports on Maasai Mara University after a tense session in which MPs clashed with Vice-Chancellor Prof. Peninah Aloo-Obudho over unanswered audit queries and the absence of key university officials during the session.
The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Luanda MP Dick Maungu, is scrutinising the Auditor-General’s reports covering the financial years 2018/19 to 2024/25. The sitting turned acrimonious after MPs took issue with the university’s decision to appear before the committee without its substantive finance, procurement and legal officers, questioning why it had failed to comply with an earlier directive requiring it to appear with technical officers capable of responding to audit queries.
Kiminini MP Maurice Kaikai Bissau accused Prof. Aloo-Obudho of being hostile to the committee and warned that the parliamentary team was determined to interrogate every audit issue. “This is a public investments committee, education and governance. It’s an audit committee, and we are here to interrogate every issue,” he said. Igembe Central MP Daniel Karitho also questioned the absence of the finance officer and former officials whose tenure coincided with some of the years under investigation, saying:
“You came again, and you expected a committee to listen to you without even the substantive finance officer who was supposed to be here and also the council.”
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Committee vice-chairman and Kasipul MP Boyd Were sought an explanation over the finance officer’s compulsory leave, which came just two days before the university was scheduled to appear before the committee. Prof. Aloo-Obudho said the officer had been placed on compulsory leave by the university council to facilitate investigations into issues at the institution.
“We did not send the finance officer on leave with crucial information. This is a process that has been going on from last year,” she said, though MPs questioned the timing of the decision, arguing that the officer’s absence had hampered the committee’s ability to obtain answers to technical audit queries.
The committee further faulted the university for failing to bring procurement and legal officers expected to provide technical responses to some of the matters raised by the Auditor-General. Prof. Aloo-Obudho attributed the absence to what she described as a different interpretation of the committee’s invitation, saying she had previously been cautioned against bringing too many officials, an explanation Bissau dismissed, telling the vice-chancellor: “Your team is not well composed.” Maungu intervened as tensions escalated, cautioning the vice-chancellor against what he termed hostility and intimidation during the proceedings. “This is a committee of Parliament, and you’re not here for tea, chai and mandazi, but we are here for serious business,” he said, later directing Prof. Aloo-Obudho to take an oath, citing what he described as anger and outbursts during the proceedings.
At the centre of the inquiry are nine unresolved audit queries dating back to 2018, covering doubtful contracted services, unsupported cash balances, irregular allowances, alleged overpayment of car allowances, omitted bank balances, unsupported foreign travel and training expenditure, irregular medical expenses and excessive employee costs.
A representative of the Auditor-General told the committee that the university had not formally responded to the outstanding queries, an assertion Prof. Aloo-Obudho disputed, saying she was in possession of documentation responding to issues raised between 2018 and 2022. Maungu insisted the committee had to begin with the oldest unresolved matters before moving to subsequent audit reports. “If we never concluded it then, there’s no way we can discuss it now. We have to look at it from where it began,” he said.
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The committee also revisited the tenure of former vice-chancellor Prof. Mary Walingo, who served at the university from 2014 to August 2019, with MPs hearing that the controversial “Mara Heist” occurred in 2019 during her tenure. Prof. Walingo told the committee she had not been invited by the current administration to assist in responding to audit questions relating to the period she headed the university, a development that exposed tensions between the current and former administrations, though Prof. Aloo-Obudho denied having personal differences with her predecessor and subsequently apologised to the committee.
The committee has ordered the university to work with the Auditor-General’s office to resolve the nine outstanding audit queries and return before MPs in two weeks with both current and former officials relevant to the period under scrutiny. Consideration of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 audit reports has been deferred until the older outstanding matters are addressed.
By Godfrey Wamalwa
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