Kenya at risk of losing billions to its financial management tool – US warns

On April 8, 2024, 2:00 AM

The United States has given an analysis of one of Kenya’s major financial management systems.

The US noted that Kenya’s Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) is susceptible to attacks. Their analysis seems to be spot on given the criminal cases that have resulted from the use of this auditing tool.

As seen in the East African publication, a new report from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has highlighted the vulnerability of Kenya’s Integrated Financial Management Information System, as reported by US companies doing business in the East African state.

“US companies have expressed concerns about Ifmis due to insufficient connectivity and technical capacity in county government offices, apathy from county government officials, central control shutdowns, and security gaps that render the system vulnerable to manipulation and hacking,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in the report.

The Ifmis was designed to audit “trails of all financial transactions with details of the person who logged in, the time, the computer used, and the action performed in efforts to end graft,” according to the East African.

Kenyan authorities use this system to monitor the country’s finances with functionalities such as budgeting, procurement, payment, accounting, and reporting.

While functional on paper, this system has been the center of major theft scandals. An interesting case occurred in 2016 when an elaborate syndicate was exposed after it came to light that some officials of an agency under the Ministry of Health, attempted to siphon Ksh30 million by hacking the system.

The syndicate exposed included corrupt government officials and shady suppliers.

The theft which was stopped last minute highlighted the flaws in the management system and exposed how billions have been stolen from manipulating the flawed tool.