Tighten controls to curb looting of county funds
The counties’ notoriety for wastefulness, blatant theft and grand corruption is alarming. Enough has been said about the increased bizarre spending on luxury for the top officials, including governors, as the pending bills continue to mount.
Some suppliers have learnt, much to their chagrin, how mistaken they were then they took out bank loans to do business with the devolved units and now risk having their assets auctioned.
The revelations of the sleaze in the counties continue. The latest is a report that 15 governors may have diverted for unauthorised uses up to Sh17 billion approved by the Controller of Budget (CoB). This comes as a big shock as the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) has always been considered to be tamper-proof.
Since their inception slightly over 10 years ago, the 47 counties have won accolades for enabling the highest transfer of resources from the centre to the grassroots since independence six decades ago. And there is actually evidence of impressive developments, especially road construction, health facilities and the emergence of beautiful towns. But corruption has also been devolved and intensified.
Ifmis transactions have been cancelled and the funds splashed on unapproved expenses. This, perhaps, explains why governors are reluctant to appear before the Senate to explain how public funds have been spent. They are frustrating the senators’ oversight over the counties for their own benefit in greedy pursuits.
A new audit has revealed that, in the financial year ending June 2023, the 15 counties cancelled 10,472 transactions the CoB had already approved and went on to spend the money in other ways. Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has confirmed that the counties diverted the funds for uses the COB had not been approved.
An Ifmis loophole is, of course, being exploited to spend public funds behind the gatekeeper’s back. CoB Margaret Nyakang’o has stated that, while the voiding of some transactions could be justified, she had been kept in the dark about them after she approved the payments. The system is thus vulnerable to manipulation and hacking.
There is an urgent need for tighter oversight by the Senate and greater scrutiny of the counties’ financial transactions.
