Governors advised to put into effect reforms in finance systems
Governors had been entreated to hasten reforms geared toward strengthening county public finance control systems with the aid of taking a leaf from pioneer county governments.
By doing so, finance specialists have stated, the county bosses will ensure prudent use of public funds and service transport to residents.
Counties may also have to make sure that their devolved units put up records on their monetary plans at some stage in the finances-making manner, which has now not been the case.
Budget analysts propose that getting entry to timely and complete data is vital if the general public participates in decision-making matters.
This data facilitates the general public shape county budget priorities, talk trade-offs with their representatives inside the regional assemblies, and music whether or not the money is delivering on what was agreed upon at some stage in consultations.
The Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012, mandates county governments to put up implementation reports within 30 days.
“All countries want to establish and beef up the county budget and financial forums as stipulated with the aid of Section 137 of the PFM Act, 2012.
This is a critical forum for facilitating consultations between citizens and county governments on subjects making plans, budgeting, and basic economic development,” stated the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).
RELATED POSTS :
READ: Counties to lose Sh1.9bn in annual gender pinnacle-up fee
The accountants’ body stated there might be a need for capability-build auditing at county stages as full responsibility and prudent public expenditure control.
“We word that some of the counties had already initiated efforts and even set up those committees before the General Election.
However, we nevertheless have lots to perform to make sure that audit committees are powerful inside the whole public zone,” said ICPAK chairman Julius Mwatu.
Equally, the County Government Act 2012 offers county planning, inclusive of but now not restrained to principles and goals of the county making plans.
Section 104 of the Act stipulates that a county government shall prepare a county plan, and no public budget will be appropriated out of doors. The framework evolved through the county govt committee and accredited through the region meeting.
Section 108 provides for a 5-12 month’s County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP).
READ: KABAARA: Make devolution serve the human beings
“We are aware that some of the preliminary CIDPs (2013 – 2017) had been not as consultative as envisaged by the constitutional provisions and applicable statutes,” ICPAK said.
“We urge new leaders to correct some of those anomalies and increase CIDPs that are certainly reflective of the needs of citizens. It’s only via this mechanism that we’ll be capable of gain the benefits of devolution,” ICPAK stated.
A survey performed via the International Budget Partnership (IBP) Kenya early this yr found out that most county governments do not put up their price range implementation reports on their websites.
The take a look performed in February confirmed that, out of the 47 counties, only Kirinyaga and Baringo had launched any price range implementation reports for the monetary yr 2016/2017.
The two counties had posted first region implementation reports on their websites.
“Baringo County is unique in that it’s been uploading its quarterly implementation reviews, starting with the primary quarter in 2015/2016,” IBP Kenya said in its brand new record released the remaining month.
The file titled “2016/2017 Budget Implementation in Kenya: Improving Performance, Continuing Transparency Challenges” also indicated that the opposite county to upload its quarterly implementation reports was Kirinyaga. However, this had not been as consistent.
“While it posted its first and 2nd sector 2016/2017 reviews, it had not posted any implementation reviews previous to this,” IBP Kenya stated.
The IBP Kenya price range analysts also noted that the to-be had county reports range in terms of the statistics.
The analysts point out that from the reports by using the 2 counties, non-economic records on overall performance against targets remain very preferred.
Moreover, the information in these reviews isn’t constant with that of the Office of Controller of Budget reports, the analysts add.
