Coastal counties fail to exhaust projects’ cash

Coastal counties failed to use their development budgets for meaningful projects. This emerged as a Senate committee starts to put the various governors to task over spending anomalies.

On Tuesday, a Sh2.3 billion pending bills conundrum continued to haunt Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya after it emerged his administration failed to utilise more than Sh1.2 billion by the close of the 2017/2018 fiscal year. The county is among those flagged by the Auditor-General as having illegal pending bills amounting to over Sh35 billion.

An analysis by the Nation shows that all the coastal counties, save for Taita-Taveta, whose spending data was not available, had their development budgets fall to Sh17.3 billion last year, from Sh18.4 billion the previous year, out of their combined Sh32 billion budgets, as the recurrent expenditure rose, even as the region reels from inadequate basic infrastructure.

According to analysts, Kwale County, for instance, saw its development expenditure fall to Sh2.19 billion last year, from Sh3.4 billion in 2015, as the amount it spent on salaries and other recurrent votes rose to Sh4.5 billion last year, up from Sh2.6 billion in 2015.

The failure by Kilifi County to absorb more than 21 per cent of its budget despite having pending bills has raised questions, attracting the attention of the anti-corruption agency after the Auditor-General Edward Ouko flagged the bills.

According to the auditor’s report, the pending bills were unlawful as the administration was unable to provide required documents such as signed contracts, invoices and Local Purchasing Orders for review.

On Tuesday, Mr Mvurya was hard pressed by Senate’s Public Accounts and Investment Committee to explain why his administration failed to pay contractors despite having the National Treasury disburse the funds to the county.

INCONSISTENCY

While appearing before the committee in Kwale, Mr Mvurya blamed the Treasury for delays in releasing the money, disrupting the implementation of county projects and putting the locals at a disadvantage.

“For the past seven years, my administration has not been receiving funds in the first quarter of every financial year,” said the governor, adding that the county had made progress in strengthening devolution by training its staff to deal with the challenges arising in the use of resources in the county.

The committee chairman, Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, asked Mr Mvurya to explain why the county was asking for more funds yet they had failed to absorb the money they had budgeted for.

“Our stand as the Senate is for the counties to be allocated more funds but it puts them in an awkward position if they fail to utilise the resources they have been allocated well,” said Mr Kajwang. He noted that for the past three years, collection of local revenue by the county had been inconsistent despite the various resources the region is endowed with.

The reports indicate a dismal increase by Sh5.1 million in the year 2017/2018, but the management could not explain the inconsistency in revenue collection from various streams.

Statements of receipts and payments for the year ended June 30, 2018 reflect the county’s own generated receipts of Sh226.2 million, compared to Sh221.01 million collected the previous year.

REVENUE

Kisii Senator Sam Ongeri, who is a member of the committee, urged Mr Mvurya to tap into the fishing and tourism sectors to stabilise revenue collection.

“I am yet to be convinced that despite the enormous resources, the county cannot raise substantial revenue.

‘‘This should be one of the richest counties as it is endowed with minerals as well as the blue economy,” he said.

Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo wondered why the devolved unit had not taken advantage of its many resources to raise more revenue to fund county operations and development projects.

In response, however, Mr Mvurya called for implementation of the Minerals Act 2016 to help the county get its share of royalties.

“We cannot talk about revenue collection without legislation,” the governor said, adding, “We are one of the counties that pushed for the enactment of the Act that defines how resources are shared.”

The county boss was also urged to work with the Senate to solve some of the challenges his administration is facing in terms of revenue collection.