Council Of Governors Defends County Bosses Amidst Development Funding Controversy

• CoG has defended governors who did not spend on development in Q1, financial year 2023/24
• CoG said the governors have had to settle pending bills and expenditures from the previous year
• CoG further said the long procurement process has hampered the counties from development projects

Elijah Ntongai, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, leverages more than three years of expertise in financial, business, and technology research, providing insights into both Kenyan and global economic trends.

The Council of Governors (CoG) has come forward to defend county leaders who faced criticism for failing to allocate funds for development activities between July and September this year.

The CoG attributed the lack of development funding in the cited counties to several factors, including prolonged procurement processes, the settlement of pending bills, and delays in parliamentary approval for additional funds.

Counties that lacked development funding

Ten counties, including Nairobi, Homa Bay, Embu, Kericho, Kilifi, Machakos, Turkana, Samburu, Wajir, and West Pokot, came under the spotlight for reportedly not spending anything on development during the first quarter of the financial year 2023/24.

While the CoG acknowledged the prioritisation of salaries and recurrent expenditures by these counties, it sought to shed light on the challenges faced.

CoG Chairperson Anne Waiguru, in a statement on Wednesday, pointed to four main issues that contributed to the lack of spending on development activities.

Pending bills

Among these, she emphasised the necessity of paying off pending bills before funds are released for development expenditure.

However, data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) revealed that, as of September 30, recurrent pending bills stood at KSh129 billion out of Sh163.6 billion, with only four of the ten counties making partial payments, Embu, Kericho, Machakos, and Samburu counties.

Procurement processes

The CoG further cited complex procurement processes as a hindrance to timely development expenditure, asserting that meticulousness, transparency, and adherence to the law in procurement were crucial.

The statement acknowledged that procurement processes take about four months to complete but did not address how 37 counties managed to undertake procurement during the same quarter.

Counties spend zero on development

Earlier on TUKO.co.ke, CoB Margaret Nyakang'o noted that some counties spent zero on development projects in Q1, 2023/24.

During the period under review, counties spent KSh 60.52 billion for recurrent activities (89.7%) and KSh 6.92 billion (10.3%) for development activities.

Under governor Johson Sakaja, Nairobi spent KSh 176 million on domestic travel, KSh 51.8 million on fuel, KSh 28 million on hospitality and KSh 11.9 million on foreign trips.