The Controller of Budget, Mary Nyakang'o on Wednesday, February 22, accused the Council of Governors (CoG) for denying her access to review the county payment transactions in order to avoid public scrutiny of billions spent by the various counties.
While appearing before the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee, Nyakang'o noted that her request to monitor real-time cash transactions was met with hostility from county governors.
She claimed to receive a letter threatening her to keep off the county bank accounts.
“My office requested to be given access to transactions happening at the counties but the CoG refused to grant access to review the payment statements."
“I will attach the letter with the threats from the CoG when addressing the committee on the issue so that you also see what I am talking about,” the CoB pointed out.
While voicing her frustrations, Nyakang'o pointed out that she had to rely on monitoring public accounts through quarterly reports provided by public institutions.
“We have general guidelines on what should be followed by counties but I don’t have binoculars to look into what people are signing or doing in the counties,” she added.
Narok Senator Ledama Olekina requested Nyakang'o to raise the matter through a letter to the Senate to allow for proper legislation to be formulated in a bid to grant her access to county accounts.
"We have heard your frustrations and now you need to write to the Senate. The law will enable you to carry out a forensic audit to make sure only transactions requested are paid and that there are no diversions made," the senator stated.
Nyakang'o also indicated the worrying situation in terms of public debt, stating that both levels of government had surpassed Ksh637 billion as of December 2022.
“Ministries, departments and agencies owe supplies and contractors Ksh80.28 billion. State corporations owe Ksh400.68 billion while counties are grappling with a huge debt totalling Ksh157.91 billion,” she noted.
She warned that the pending bills would accrue if the government failed to settle the bills on goods and services delivered.
