Baringo Senator Gideon Moi to Table Bill on Management of County Funds

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, who also chairs the Senate ICT Committee, offered to assist governors in managing county funds to avoid losses.

Speaking during a retreat in Naivasha, Nakuru County on Tuesday, Senator Moi noted that the counties have collectively lost Ksh18.8 Billion through faulty revenue collection systems.

The chairperson noted that he would table a bill that will tighten the controls around the management of county funds and provide a system that will be used to manage the funds.

Moi explained that governors at the counties had opted to procure expensive revenue management systems that never seem to work according to the needs of the county governments.

[caption caption="Senate ICT Committee chair Gideon Moi during a past parliamentary sitting"][/caption]

He added that the counties would be compelled to work with the system provided by the ICT Ministry for free.

According to the Senator, the committee will traverse the nation meeting with stakeholders to ensure the bill is enriched before it is tabled before parliament.

West Pokot Senator Samuel Poghisio added that members of county assembly will also be allowed to give their input as the bill is drawn up.

Governors have been reluctant to use the government's Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) system after a number of technical errors that ended up delaying payment for county workers.

The system is also the government's portal used during procurement processes. The system is able to track the progress of payments made by departments to various suppliers.

IFMIS Director Jerome Ochieng was in March 2018 nominated by President Uhuru Kenyatta for the ICT Principal Secretary docket and was sworn in at State House on August 14.

[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta interacts with immediate former IFMIS Director Jerome Ochieng' during a past ICT workshop"][/caption]