Agencies fault governors for failing to use money wisely

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo said regional governments had failed to clearly distinguish between recurrent and development expenditures.

“There is also the failure to institute internal audit mechanisms and committees to assist overseeing use of money,” she said, during a session of the devolution conference in Kisumu.

And the salaries commission boss, Ms Sarah Serem, told the governors that acceding to county assembly members’ demands for car grants and mileage allowances would only increase the wage bill.

Ms Serem said: “There was never a written submission for the car grants from the assembly. We, however, sat and looked at the principal obligations for society to offer such allowances and realise they cannot contain it,” she said.

On salaries, Ms Serem criticised the decision by counties to inherit workers from the defunct local authorities. She said the wage bill question is about evaluating every individual employed and not downsizing.

“The counties should not have accepted the agreements they did by signing the workers from local authorities. Kenyans refused to be asked for more taxes to fund these grants,” she said.

PRODUCTIVITY

She added: “The wage bill is not just about numbers of workers but comes down to productivity. There are people who are paid salaries but the value of their productivity is zero.”  

Transition Authority Chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi cautioned members of county assemblies against impeaching governors saying their mandate was to provide oversight.

Council of Governors Chairman Isaac Ruto, who chaired the session, said the greatest challenge was that counties and the national government were not reading from the same script.

He also said counties should get 45 per cent of the revenue the State collects.

“The share should be calculated based on the preceding year’s budget and this must be anchored in the Constitution,” he went on. He noted that the allocation of the Sh5 billion Emergency Fund, while it is a good step, is not enough.

Mr Ruto further said that the 2015/16 financial year proposed only Sh4.5 billion for increases in salaries and allowances for county officers.
“The actual cost to counties for this increment is Sh12 billion,” he said.

“There is a shortfall of Sh7 billion. We are gravely concerned that failure to fund the Sh7 billion will mean utilising development funds for recurrent expenditure,” he went on.

He also wants counties to access the Road Maintenance Fuel Levy Fund for the maintenance of county roads.