Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua
unveiled 70 ambulances, saying the
vehicles were part of a broader
billion-shilling health-care
programme. Billions of shillings
meant for counties are lying
unspent at the Central Bank less
than a month before the devolved
units are allocated more money in
the next budget. Machakos was one
of the counties that met the 25 per
cent first-quarter absorption target.
Billions of shillings meant for
counties are lying unspent at the
Central Bank less than a month
before the devolved units are
allocated more money in the next
budget.
The counties had in total more
than Sh66 billion lying in their
respective accounts as of Friday
last week, raising questions about
whether they have the capacity to
absorb the funds.
Out of the total, Sh44 billion is
money collected by the counties as
fees or commission and the
balance is allocation from the
national Government.
A report on county spending
released by the Treasury and the
controller of budget indicated that
the devolved units had received
Sh158 billion in total so far, but
they had only spent slightly more
than half of the funds as of the
end of last week.
Though the report does not
indicate how the money was used,
Nairobi County emerged the best
spender, with a balance of Sh110
million out of Sh6.7 billion it has
received so far.
Other best spenders were Bomet,
Machakos, Murang’a, Nakuru and
Nyeri, which have bank balances
of Sh539 million, 407 million, 693
million, 861 million and 640
million respectively. These
counties met the 25 per cent first-
quarter absorption target.
HIGHEST BANK BALANCE
Mandera had the highest bank
balance, having used only 30 per
cent or Sh1.8 billion out of Sh5.9
billion allocated to it. The county
has Sh4.1 billion lying idle in its
account.
Governor Ali Ibrahim Roba said
that almost all the money has
been committed to various
development projects.
“Most of the money is for paying
road contractors and developers of
various public amenities in the
county and this is still work in
progress that will be paid after the
work has been accomplished,” said
Mr Roba.
Mandera received the third-highest
allocation after Nairobi and
Turkana.
On its part, Turkana County spent
almost half of its allocation. It
used Sh3 billion out of the Sh6.8
billion it received.
Other counties that had more than
Sh2 billion in their accounts are
Bungoma, Garissa, Kilifi, Kitui and
Meru.
Baringo, Busia, Embu, Homabay,
Kisii, Kisumu, Kwale, Migori,
Mombasa, Nandi, Narok, Nyamira ,
Siaya, Tana River Uasin Gishu,
Vihiga and West Pokot have on
average Sh1.2 billion lying unspent
in their current and development
accounts.
AMENDMENT URGED
A report from the controller of
budget, Agnes Odhiambo, said
counties failed to use more than
Sh27 billion allocated to them
during their first quarter of
business. Twenty seven counties
failed to spend any money on
development. They did not request
money for projects, according to
Mrs Odhiambo.
“This low uptake could be
attributed to the failure of most
counties to meet the conditions set
for the release of funds as
stipulated in the Public Financial
Management Act, 2012,” said Mrs
Odhiambo in the report.
It was established then that while
some counties had well-formulated
and balanced budgets, others had
deficits, unrealistic estimates or
allocations for unauthorised items.
Meanwhile, the council of
governors has called for the
amendment of article 203 of the
Constitution to increase allocation
to the counties to a minimum of 40
per cent of the national revenue,
up from the current minimum of
15 per cent.
“There is growing recognition of
the importance of the national
government to increase the
allocation of revenue to counties.
To do so, we may be required to
amend the Constitution to
guarantee national revenue flow,”
said the governors in an
advertisement Friday.
By JUA-LEO Kenya
