The Controller of Budget Margret Nyakang’o has listed 18 counties that should not be given funds by the Treasury because of over spending.
According to Nyakang’o the counties spent over 35 per cent of the money allocated to them on salaries and other recurrent expenditures.
The affected counties include; Baringo, Bungoma, Elgeyo Marakwet, Embu, Garissa, Homa Bay, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Kisii, Kitui and Machakos.
Others are Meru, Murang’a, Nandi, Taita Taveta, Tharaka Nithi, Vihiga and West Pokot counties.
Through a statement, CoB said plans on how to carry out the freeze were being discussed while touching on funds for the 2021-2022 financial year.
A report on the budget review on the first 9 months indicate that the counties spent over 52.9 per cent of their total expenditure on payment of wages.
County governments are not supposed to spend over 35 per cent of money allocated to them on wages according CoB regulations.
“We have made recommendations on what can be done to manage high wage bills in counties so that they are within the law and I would recommend everybody to read the report of the Controller of Budget every quarter to get all the details on what is happening in your county,” Nyakong’o said.
Some of the recommendations include; county governments should develop and implement alternative measures to improve the generation of income from their own sources for the fully-funded budget.
The counties have also been advised to prioritize implementation of development projects to improve the standard of living for its citizens and ensure spending on development activities complies with Section 107(2) (b) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012.
County governments should ensure all revenue receipts are banked intact into the County Revenue Fund (CRF) account and develop strategies to ensure all unspent cash balance is paid back into the CRF account in line with the law.
County Treasuries have told to review expenditure on travel and subsistence allowances to ensure it is credible and institute control measures to curtail this expenditure and avoid wasteful spending.
Finally, it is recommended that the National Treasury should should release county government funds on time so that implementation of budget is not adversely affected.
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