Audit report reveals illegal payments by counties to CoG

Some county governments made illegal contributions to the Council of Governors (CoG), taking over expenditures which should have been met by the national government, an audit report has revealed.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, in her latest report of the financial year 2018/2019, has flagged the counties which include Samburu, Nyandarua, Bomet and Baringo.

Samburu County, for example,  irregularly paid Sh5.6 million to the CoG to help defray the council's expenses during the year under review.

"The payment was made contrary to Section 37 of the Inter-Governmental Relations Act 2021, which provides that all operational expenses of the Council of Governors should be met by the national government," stated  the report.

Baringo County also made irregular payments of Sh5.1 million to the Council of Governors.

According to the audit report, the county paid Sh5,188,780 to the CoG to offset its expenses, contravening Section 37 of the Intergovernmental Relations Act ,2012.

On the other hand, Bomet County made an irregular payment of Sh5 million while Nyandarua paid Sh6 million, the amount being membership fees, dues and subscription to professional and trade bodies.

National government mandate

According to Ms Gathungu, counties have been channeling part of the funds they receive to the CoG, yet it is the mandate of the national government to fund the council, whose offices are at Delta House in Westlands, Nairobi.

Ms Gathungu has questioned the counties' decision to fund the council, whose budget is fully funded by the national Treasury.

Last year, the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee, declared illegal millions of shillings which the devolved units were remitting to the council and demanded the money be refunded to the counties.

The committee revealed that the funds were being remitted without the necessary legal provisions.

The law requires the national government to finance all independent institutions such as the CoG.

Defended move

However, governors have in the past defended the move of making contributions to the CoG, saying that without the money, the body would be dead.

They argue that the contributions are meant to make the CoG strong and functional.

In 2016, it emerged that governors had illegally remitted at least Sh1 billion to the CoG for three years.

Uproar in Parliament

The revelations caused uproar in Parliament, with the lawmakers accusing the county bosses of misappropriating money meant for funding government expenditure by sending it back to Nairobi to finance the activities of the Council of Governors.

The documents submitted in Parliament showed that regions considered hardship areas have been paying the most to fund the council.

The documents from the Ministry of Devolution, for instance, indicated that Turkana (Sh58 million), Kitui (Sh48 million) and Tana River (Sh39 million) counties remitted the highest amounts over the three financial years between 2013 and 2016.

Total remittances by the counties came to Sh998.5 million between 2013 and 2016.

Interestingly, the money was not approved by the various county assemblies.