City county should let auditors do their work

Nairobi, which is the not just the national capital, but also the wealthiest county, should serve as a good example to the other 46. It has great potential that must be harnessed for the residents’ benefit.

The city county, which hosts the headquarters of all government ministries, should be able to tap some of their expertise to enhance the management of its own resources. It is, therefore, disappointing that the county is instead engaging in impunity.

Nairobi claims to have collected tens of billions in revenue but no audit has been carried out to confirm this. Members of the county assembly have raised questions over the revenue declared by the executive following revelations that external auditors have been denied access for the past two years.

Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chairperson Jared Akama has questioned how the city county government has been able to confirm the revenue collected as the auditors have been locked out.

Governor Johnson Sakaja says the county collected Sh12.5 billion in revenue in the last financial year. This would the highest revenue ever collected by the county, though it falls short of its Sh20 billion target. He has attributed the rise in revenue to the introduction of a unified business permit and the sealing of revenue leakages.

But external auditors say they have been intimidated and have thus failed to verify whether the revenue was actually collected. Therefore, the system used by the county to arrive at that figure remains a mystery.

Mr Sakaja’s administration should allow the external auditors to verify the city county’s real financial position. It is, indeed, unacceptable that the auditors have been denied access. This raises the question as to what the governor and his team could be hiding. Transparency and accountability are key to good governance.