MPs have summoned Auditor General Nancy Gathungu to account for what they term a troubling drop in the quality of audit reports from her office.

Their action follows allegations that some officers in the audit office are colluding with leaders of state agencies to sanitise questionable financial records. During a joint sitting of the Public Investment Committee on Governance and the Education Committee on Wednesday, lawmakers voiced alarm over audits that seem to ignore glaring irregularities, forcing committees to uncover the breaches on their own.

Bumula MP Wanami Wamboka, who chairs the committee, accused the audit office of watering down findings, failing to highlight major concerns, and clearing chief executives with questionable track records.

“The quality of reports is wanting. Parliament will not be used to rubber-stamp illegalities in government,” he said. “Auditors meet with agencies; they clear them and bring them to us to rubber-stamp.”

Bomachoge Chache MP Alfah Miruka warned that the committees will not act as a conveyor belt for compromised reports, insisting that both the chief executives and the auditors who approved the documents must be held accountable.

“We cannot be used to rubber-stamp something that we do not understand,” Miruka said.

Wamboka announced that the committees will meet Gathungu next week to address the “compromised” audit reports and question the directors who signed them.

“We want to meet the Auditor General herself next week. This is unacceptable,” he said. “We want the director who was directly involved in the audit.”

The concerns surfaced during the review of the 2023–24 audit report for the Kenya Space Agency, where acting director general Hillary Kipkosgey had to postpone the session after the committee raised strong objections.

Lawmakers also flagged similar problems in the audit report for the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA). Documents presented to Wamboka’s committee showed that auditors identified only three issues at the Kenya Space Agency and two at KNQA, while overlooking more serious concerns and focusing on minor ones.

“In some instances, they left out some big issues and only highlighted the flimsy ones,” Wamboka said.

MPs now plan to grill the Auditor General over alleged behind-the-scenes negotiations that they say are undermining the credibility of Kenya’s public audit process.