County chiefs face budget crackdown

Chief officers of 23 county governments risk prosecution for spending billions of shillings without the necessary approvals.

According to a quarterly report compiled by Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo and seen by the Nation, Kiambu county spent a total of Sh513 million without the approval of its County Assembly, contrary to the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.

The report covers the months of March to June.

CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

Other county governments cited for spending millions without approvals include Uasin Gishu (Sh340 million), Meru (Sh206 million), Nyeri (Sh210 million), Makueni (Sh156 million), Kisii (Sh137 million) and Kitui (Sh121 million).

Others are Busia (Sh102 million), Nandi (Sh94 million), Machakos (Sh70 million) and Kirinyaga (Sh51 million).

Ms Odhiambo has, however, given a clean bill of health to the remaining 24 counties, which utilised their revenue for the four months under review in line with the legal guidelines.

In most of the offending counties, it is the defunct local authorities that were found to have spent the funds without the assemblies’ approval.

The other major culprits in the misuse of the funds are the county treasuries, which overlooked the county assemblies and directly withdrew funds from their accounts.

Public finance expert and former chairman of the parliamentary budget committee, Mr Elias Mbau, warned that governors and county executives found to have broken the law in the use of public funds risk imprisonment and hefty fines.

“The Public Finance Management Act sets out stiff penalties for those found guilty of misappropriating public funds. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Auditor-General should immediately commence investigations into the county governments pointed out by the Controller of Budget,” he told the Nation.

According to the report, the 47 counties were allocated Sh9.7 billion from the National Government while they collected Sh6.7 billion from local sources, all amounting to Sh16 billion.

In addition, the counties received Sh2.8 billion from the Transition Authority towards infrastructure development and civil works.

The total expenditure for all the counties amounted to Sh16.2 billion with the main spending units being the County Assembly Services, County Executive Services and Financial Management Service.

The counties spent a total of Sh6.5 billion on personnel emoluments, Sh6.7 billion on operation and maintenance and Sh1.3 billion on development.

The report further notes that Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu and Kisumu counties had the highest expenditure recording Sh3.8 billion, Sh894 million, Sh655 million and Sh425 million respectively.

EXPRESSED DISMAY

The Controller of Budget expressed dismay at the huge expenditure on imprests to individuals and refurbishment of offices which, it said, were exaggerated.

These expenditures, the Controller directed, must be audited by the relevant institutions and action taken to prevent further misappropriation of public funds.

In Meru, the county government spent Sh206 million from its local revenue collections without a supplementary budget approved by the County Assembly.

The Murang’a County government spent a total of Sh337 million, a figure which was higher than the appropriated amount received as national grant.

In Kajiado, out of the local revenue collections of Sh124 million, an expenditure of Sh53 million was not appropriated by the County Assembly.

An analysis of the expenditure for Kirinyaga County reveals that the former local authorities spent Sh51 million for salaries for March and operations and maintenance for the months of April to June without seeking authority from the County Assembly.

In Nyeri county, Sh210 million from local collections was used without a supplementary budget approved by the County Assembly.

Another county where former municipal councils spent Sh121 million without a supplementary budget approved by the County Assembly is Kitui.