Government’s financial management system breaks down

The government’s financial management system has broken down, threatening to plunge public service workers into a crisis ahead of Christmas.

Thousands of teachers and county workers are among those set to receive their salaries late due to a technical hitch with Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis).

An internal memo sent by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), whose copy the Nation has obtained, spelt out the crisis and urged patience.

Kakamega County Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, who is the chairman of the Council of Governors Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs Committee, said on Friday that counties have been plunged into a financial crisis due to the hitch.

“The GoK, Ifmis has since December 14, to date been very slow and sometimes goes out completely making the ongoing payment processing incomplete,” read the internal memo from the TSC’s acting director accounts Grace Ngure, to all directors.

Ms Ngure, in the memo dated December 20, adds that the National Treasury technical team had been contacted and was currently handling the matter and had indicated that the issue was nationwide.

“In this regard, I request you to bear with us as the problem is being sorted out,” stated the memo copied to TSC chairperson Lydia Nzomo and Commission Secretary Nancy Macharia. TSC, with an annual budget of Sh192 billion, employs more than 290,000 teachers and together with counties are the biggest employers in the country.

Any delay in salaries would, therefore, have wide-ranging effects during the festive season. It would also cripple preparations for the new school year.

Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion warned the government against delaying teachers’ salaries.

“We don’t care about Ifmis. That is their own problem. All we want is for teachers to get salaries at the right time,” he said on phone.

Mr Oparanya said the hitch had affected payment of salaries and processing of urgent payments to suppliers and other service providers.

“On behalf of the CoG, I regret to bring to the attention of the county government suppliers, staff and creditors the malfunction of the Ifmis used in processing payments across the counties,” he said.

Additional reporting by Geffrey Rono.