County funds: Row between governors and controller of budget escalates

The row between governors and the Controller of Budget (CoB) has intensified with county chiefs accusing Dr Margaret Nyakang'o of acting outside her jurisdiction for rejecting their requests for withdrawal of Sh3.2 billion.

The county bosses also accused Dr Nyakang’o of overstepping her mandate and acting as the auditor-general by pushing to scrutinise county funds.

In an escalation of a supremacy battle between the two entities, the Council of Governors (CoG) faulted the move by Dr Nyakang’o to decline requests for the Sh3.2 billion, terming the grounds advanced by the CoB as “unrealistic”.

CoG Finance Committee Chairperson, Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, said Dr Nyakang’o’s continued pressure on county governments to meet unrealistic expectations in order to access funds has affected execution of critical activities.

Governor Barasa argued that the demands will not only affect the use of resources allocated to the devolved units but also disrupt services being rendered by the counties.

This, he said, comes at a time when counties are grappling with delayed disbursement of county equitable share, severe drought and delayed remittance of county staff salaries.

“We note with concern the many bottle-neck processes by the controller of budget on county governments, which has led to critical activities in the counties to continue to stall and therefore derailing efforts put in place to implement projects and programmes,” said Mr Barasa.

The development comes after Dr Nyakang’o said her office denied counties Sh3.2 billion between July last year and January 2023 due to breaches of fiscal laws.

She pointed out that the 47 county governments made a requisition totalling over Sh182.7 billion, however, her office only approved Sh179.5 billion.

Governor Barasa shifted the blame to the office of the controller of budget, saying the inconsistencies cited to deny counties funds does not add up because Dr Nyakang’o’s office has staff in the counties whose work is to verify documents before submission.

Further, he said the CoB office in each county has a county budget coordinator (CBC) who, among others, verifies supporting documents for withdrawal of funds from County Revenue Funds and processes all requisitions for exchequer requests.

“In light of the aforementioned, it is clear indication of the ill motives by the CoB or incompetence by her officers. The CBCs need to be proactive in elimination of mistakes and inconsistencies, if any,” said the Governor.

“We therefore urge the controller to utilise the office of the CBCs to shorten the process of approval for withdrawal.”

He argued that Dr Nyakang’o’s role stops at overseeing the implementation of budgets of national and county governments by authorising withdrawals from public funds and not scrutiny of expenditure of such funds.

“To this end, we call upon the CoB to desist from assuming and acting on the role of the Auditor-General and authorise the transfer of resources to counties as enumerated in the Constitution,” said Mr Barasa.

At the same time, the CoG has called for a meeting with Dr Nyakang’o to deliberate over allegations of threat to her office as well as chart a way forward concerning support required to unlock the ongoing stalemate between the two entities.

Last week, the controller of budget accused governors of threatening her in order to avoid scrutiny of billions of shillings spent by the devolved units.

In the shocking revelation before MPs, Dr Nyakang’o accused the county bosses of blocking her bid to gain access to crucial financial records for review.

“We wish to invite the CoB to a meeting with the CoG Executive as well as the Finance committee so that she airs her grievances on the threats issued as well as support required to unlock the ongoing stalemate,” Mr Barasa said.

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