CoG, Controller of Budget to meet over fund delays
Eric Juma
Governors are today set to meet the Controller of Budget over delayed disbursement of revenue which is threatening to disrupt operations in the counties.
Already in some counties, workers who are yet to receive their last month’s pay, are on a go-slow.
Last week, the Council of Governors (CoG), through its chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, wrote to the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o protesting the delayed disbursement of funds to the counties.
He accused the Controller of failing to facilitate “in a timely manner the approvals to enable county governments access funds” after it demanded the counties must first provide lists of their respective employees outside Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) to facilitate approval of withdrawal of funds.
Counties are also required to provide a list of their casual employees with an explanation on whether they have worked for more than three months as well as different Internet Banking reports for multiple payments to individuals or suppliers.
Yesterday, Vihiga Governor Wilbur Otichillo, whose administration has been drastically affected by the delay, revealed that all county chiefs will have a sitting with CoB as part of their spirited efforts to try and broker a truce.
“Since this is a national wide challenge, all governors are meeting the Controller of Budget tomorrow (today) over the matter,” Otichillo said in a press statement sent to newsrooms.
But Oparanya said the CoB amounts to auditing, yet the office of the Auditor General and the Senate are the bodies mandated to play oversight role of the county government expenditures while CoG is responsible for facilitating counties get resources on time.
“You need to facilitate counties as required by the Constitution failure to which we will seek legal intervention,” Oparanya who is also the Kakamega Governor said while telling counties not to honour the requests.
“I am advising the County Executive Committee Members in charge of Finance not to respond to these queries until this issues is resolved by your office in consultation with the Council of Governors which is mandated to handle matters on common interests to all counties,” he added.
