- A Senate committee is investigating why Garissa Governor Nathif Jama has been running the county government without chief officers
- Chief officers are the accounting officers of every docket in the country and the ones designated to spend (Authority to Incur Expenditure holders) funds disbursed to the county
A Senate committee is investigating why Garissa Governor Nathif Jama has been running the county government without chief officers since 2022.
Chief officers are the accounting officers of every docket in the country and the ones designated to spend (Authority to Incur Expenditure holders) funds disbursed to the county. They are equivalent to Principal Secretaries in the National Government.
Appearing before the Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Monday, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said the county sent her a list of 12 officers designated as AIE holders.
“The county of Garissa has sent me 12 names of chief officers who are AIE holders and I have their specimen signatures,” Nyakang’o said.
However, the letter designating the officers was dated May 24 – when the committee had already instigated the probe.
“According to this letter, it is dated May 24, 2024. This appeared to have been done after the governor appeared before this committee,” committee chairman Abbas Mohamed said.
The Wajir Senator added, “Or did you receive this letter earlier than that, or is it a way of covering up?”
Garissa Senator Abdul Haji had earlier asked Nyakang’o whether she had been provided with the names of the chief officers.
“In the letter, could you explain, did you verify the names and if they have gone through the proper processes of being appointed as accounting officers?”
Bungoma Governor Wafula Wakoli said, “This thing he did hurriedly a few days ago to cover his footprints.”
When Jama appeared before the committee two weeks ago, he said his cabinet resolved to allow the Finance and Economic Planning CEC to appoint existing officials as accounting officers.
“These officials are critical in ensuring that public resources are aptly utilised and accounted for in line with the Public Finance Management Act, 2012,” the governor said.
“Thus, lack of chief officers has not impeded our operations as a county government given that there are designated accounting officers in line with the law.”
He failed to appoint the chief officer following recommendations of the state Department of Public Service whose audit unearthed gross violations in the management of county human resources.
But in what appeared to throw Jama under the bus, Nyakang’o revealed that the county has under-absorbed its budget for the current financial year. Garissa Executive has spent a paltry Sh4.5 billion in the first nine months out of a total budget of Sh10.7 billion for the year. The expenditure translates to an absorption rate of 42.5 per cent.
The county has also failed or delayed submitting financial documents to the OCOB, thus affecting the timely preparation of the budget implementation report. The challenges are associated with the lack of AIE holders.
Failure by Fund Administrators to submit quarterly financial and non-financial reports to the COB within the timelines provided in law is against the requirement of Section 168 of the PFM Act, 2012.
Garissa reported an Own Source Revenue of Sh153.5 million against an annual target of Sh230 million which represents a performance of 66.7 per cent.
Nyakang’o told the committee that in the financial year 2022-23, the expenditure on employee compensation was Sh4.77 billion or 51.6 per cent of the revenue for the financial year 2022-23 of Sh9.24 billion, which was above the limit of 35 per cent provided in law.
COB recommends that the County Treasury should ensure timely preparation and submission of financial reports to the Office of the Controller of Budget, in line with the timelines prescribed in Section 166 of the PFM Act, 2012.
In addition, the county finance CEC should follow up to ensure Fund Administrators prepare and submit statutory reports in line with the PFM Act, 2012.
“The Government requires that salaries be processed through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD) system, and the County is advised to fast-track the acquisition of Unified Personnel Numbers for their staff,” Nyakang’o said.