Governors council, CoB tussle over access to funds
The Council of Governors and the Controller of Budget are engaged in a tussle, which has resulted in the latter declining to facilitate approvals for counties to access funds.
At the centre of the dispute is the demand by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o for counties to provide a list of employees who have worked for more than three months.
But in a protest letter, the CoG, through its chairman Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, has advised the County Executive Committee Members in charge of Finance not to respond to queries raised by the CoB until the issues between the parties are resolved.
“... I am advising the CECs not to respond to these queries until this issue is resolved by your Office in consultation with the CoG, which is mandated to handle matters of common interests to all counties,” wrote Oparanya.
The CoB is also demanding a list of counties’ casual employees with an explanation if they have worked for more than three months.
Further, Nyakang’o wants counties to provide different Internet Banking reports for multiple payments to individuals or suppliers.
But the CoG in its letter states that counties implement their budget upon approval of the County Appropriation Act.
The request from the CoB, Oparanya says, for counties to provide additional documentation to facilitate approval of withdrawal of funds amounts to auditing.
Further, the governors’ council in the letter complained that the National government is not subjected to these conditions despite the fact that the CoB serves both levels of government.
“You need to facilitate Counties as required by the Constitution failure to which we will seek legal intervention,” says Oparanya.
