Treasury CS
John Mbadi has blamed the Controller of Budget over the perennial late
disbarment of sharable revenue to counties.
Speaking on
Thursday during a consultative meeting with governors in Naivasha, the CS
accused CoB Margaret Nyakango of introducing unnecessary bottlenecks in the
disbursement process.
“I wish the
controller of the budget was here, I have a problem with her office. Once we
transfer money to counties, let that money reach the counties, there should be
no bottlenecks. There is no reason governors, that your officers are always in
Nairobi to clear with the office of CoB,” Mbadi said.
Mbadi termed
the way of clearing funds for disbursement as “rent-seeking” saying it was
hampering county government operations.
He said it
was unfair that county officials in the finance department had to travel from
as far as Turkana to get their monies cleared, yet that would be an assignment
done on the phone.
Mbadi was
responding to queries from the governors on the late disbursement of funds as well as
calls for the increase of county allocations during the quarterly high–level
consultative meeting.
The CS said
there should be a working system that does not have artificial human
interference to ensure funds reach counties immediately after they are
disbursed.
“I have
always wanted a forum where I can tell her (CoB) publicly, that she must reign in on
her officers and that does not mean I’m attacking her, I am criticizing her.
She is also open to criticise me,” Mbadi said.
On the
increase of the shareable revenue to counties, Mbadi ruled out the possibility
of the amount rising to Sh400 billion as demanded by the county chiefs.
The
government justified the demand, saying the rollout of the Social Health
Insurance Fund would put a strain on their expenditure in the health sector.
“We will not
accept anything less than Sh400 billion yet you are adding us more roles,”
Nandi Governor Stephen Sang said.
“If there is
no money, I would rather return the county to the national government,” Baringo
Governor Benjamin Cheboi added.
But Mbadi
said the governors’ demand was untenable as the national government did not
have the amount of money they were asking for.
“I know
counties need even more than Sh400 billion. The reason why the National Treasury is
asking to reduce that money is not because we are not appreciating that
counties need more money, it is because of the financial challenges we have
found ourselves in,” he said.
The Treasury
CS, however, committed to disbursing county funds on time in an effort to keep
the devolved units afloat.
As of now,
counties have gone without revenue allocation from the national government for
more than three months.
Meanwhile,
Mbadi asked governors to slash the number of advisers, saying there was a habit
of bringing on board more advisers than was necessary in the discharge of their
duties.
He said the
funds used to pay the numerous advisers can be channelled to other uses.
“Many advisers
are unnecessary and should be disbanded,” he said.