Increase accountability in counties’ spending – Business Daily
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakango. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenya has now gone through two electoral terms under the devolved form of government, learning key lessons on how to make counties deliver on their mandate of service delivery along the way.
It has taken time and money to set up systems and processes of governance and administration in counties, which will serve them well for years to come.
Problems related to own-revenue collection and delays in disbursement have, however, slowed down the gains that were envisaged when the devolved units were set up a decade ago.
It is, therefore, refreshing to see the Senate finally waking up to this problem, by proposing changes to the law to impose sanctions on Treasury officials who fail to abide by the timelines set for remittance of county dues.
However, this should be accompanied by greater transparency and accountability on the part of counties over how they utilise the taxpayer funds that they receive every year.
For a start, it will help if the Controller of Budget was allowed a real-time acccess of county accounts to boost efforts to track payment of pending bills and other expenditures.
