A parliamentary audit has exposed serious flaws in the management of assets and financial records at the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), raising alarm over the possible loss or misrepresentation of billions of shillings in public property.

The revelations came to light during hearings by the Public Investments Committee on Social Services, Administration, and Agriculture (PIC-SSAA), chaired by Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe.

The Auditor General’s reports from 2020 to 2024 showed a worrying pattern of inflated land valuations, missing ownership records, and inaccurate financial reporting within the authority.

One of the most glaring concerns involved the valuation of CA’s headquarters in Nairobi, which was listed at Sh15.96 billion.

According to Agnes Kamau from the Office of the Auditor General, “This figure is significantly overstated and raises serious doubts about the credibility of the Sh15.96 billion valuation.”

Auditors discovered that part of the land , 0.8042 hectares, had been wrongly acquired by the government, with the correct size being 4.7878 hectares instead of the declared 5.592 hectares. Despite this, the valuation was never updated, and the title deed remained unchanged.

In Garissa County, auditors flagged a property worth Sh68.57 million, complete with a building, which had no legal ownership documents.

Its legitimacy remains unclear, exposing the authority to legal and financial risks. A similar case in Trans Nzoia involved another Sh68.57 million land asset still bearing a Sh462.5 million charge from 2010, even though the property had been transferred a year later.

The charge was linked to a loan taken by the Agricultural Development Corporation from Kenya Commercial Bank, and it continues to distort CA’s financial statements.

“This is not just an oversight; it’s a fundamental failure in asset management. Public assets cannot be left in a state of documentation limbo,” Wangwe remarked.

Another issue raised was the unsettled debt by Telkom Kenya Limited (TKL). While TKL previously claimed it had cleared all dues, audit findings showed it still owed Sh3.19 billion to the CA for the period between 2019 and 2022.

Despite several letters from the Treasury expressing a willingness to support the settlement, no funds were released. As a result, the CA wrote off Sh287 million as bad debt.

CAK CEO David Mugonyi was put on the spot by committee members over the agency’s inability to reconcile these discrepancies. Lawmakers pressed for immediate answers and demanded a full review of the authority’s asset records and financial practices.