The Office of the Controller of Budget (CoB) has admitted that it had issued incorrect data in its latest report that wrongly stated that Homa Bay County was running hundreds of bank accounts.
In the County Government Budget Implementation Review Report(CGBIRR)for the 2024/25 financial year, the CoB reported that the Governor Gladys Wanga-led county had 584 bank accounts in commercial banks.
Homa Bay County, in a letter dated September 18, clarified that the figures were overstated after the inclusion of 284 Level 1 community health units, which do not hold bank accounts.
In response, CoB Margaret Nyakang’o admitted the inaccuracy in a letter to the county’s Executive Committee Member for Finance.
She assured the county that the matter would be corrected and that accurate information would be reflected in a revised edition of the report.
“Based on the foregoing, the Controller of Budget has noted the inaccuracy on the number of bank accounts maintained which were reported as 558 instead of 274. The Office regrets this inaccuracy and commits to take prompt corrective action on the above inaccuracy in line with our revision policy,” Nyakang’o stated.
She explained that to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the published information, CoB will correct the data and it will be reflected in the revised edition of the Annual CGBIRR for 2024/25.
In the corrected figures, Homa Bay currently operates 272 bank accounts.
These include 207 for Level 2 and 3 health facilities, 24 for Level 4 and 5 facilities, 35 for vocational centres, five for special funds like Mortgage and Emergency, Bursary, Liquor, and FIF, and three for other uses, including Own Source Revenue (OSR) collection and salary accounts at DTB and KCB.
In the earlier report, COB revealed that counties such as Kitui County had 350 bank accounts, while Bungoma and Nakuru each have more than 300 accounts, where others are not authorised.
While Embu, Machakos, Kwale and Baringo counties had more than 200 bank accounts.
In the report, COB revealed that Nandi County has only 10 accounts, while Kisii has 14, Tharaka Nithi 16, Siaya 15 and Murang’a 20.
The counties are warned that the proliferation of multiple commercial bank accounts by counties makes the public funds vulnerable to mismanagement and theft.
