The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has come to the defence of the Controller of Budget against attacks by the Council of Governors arising from her latest report which puts the county bosses on the spot over development expenditure.
This comes after the Controller of Budget raised the alarm
that some county governments are maintaining multiple bank accounts with some
of them running into hundreds.
The bank accounts, some of which were flagged, raised
serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of
devolved funds.
Speaking to Journalists in Mwingi, Kitui County on Friday, EACC,
through Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi criticized the Governors' response to the
audit findings.
Ngumbi urged governors to accept accountability and focus on
addressing the irregularities pointed out by the Controller of Budget rather
than dismissing oversight efforts.
"From where we sit as EACC, the Controller of Budget is
right. She is discharging the mandate of that office under the constitution. Governors
should take reform measures and address the gaps that CoB has raised. You
cannot justify why a county government has to operate hundreds of bank
accounts," he said.
Ngumbi said that the maintenance of such a huge number of
bank accounts raises eyebrows on the prudent use of public funds.
“As the EACC continues to discharge its mandate in the
protection of public funds, the Commission urges the Honourable Governors to
begin to recognize theft of public funds as an existential threat to
devolution, and to individually and collectively implement accountability
measures as routinely advised by oversight bodies,” Ngumbi said.
He urged the county bosses to implement various EACC Reports
with key reform recommendations from the Corruption Risk Assessment undertaken
in 28 counties so far.
CoG on Friday defended the counties following a damning
report that found some of them to have spent zero of their allocation on
development projects.
In a strongly worded statement, CoG chairperson Ahmed
Abdullahi clarified that while this was true, it was worth noting that counties
did not receive any funds from the Treasury during the first quarter of this
financial year.
“As a matter of fact, counties received zero exchequer
releases from the National Treasury during the quarter…,” the statement reads
in part.
The report by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o
released Wednesday covers the first quarter of this 2024-25 financial year,
from July to September.
“The first disbursement was received during the last month
of that quarter. However, no county was able to access the money by the end of
that month,” said Abdullahi.
According to Abdullahi, counties said to have undertaken
projects during the period utilised the balances they had from the previous
year.
“...others took loans from commercial banks to pay salaries
and sustain service delivery,” he said.
Pointing an accusing finger at the controller of budget for
allegedly “scandalising” the counties, the Wajir Governor claimed the
presentation has now portrayed the counties in bad light.
He said this has caused misleading impressions and
unwarranted agitation among the public and media to the detriment of the
governors.
He went on to allege that the challenges with the delayed
release of funds are orchestrated by her office.
“This is a facilitative office that must live up to, and
respect their mandate.”
