Governors have been urged to hasten reforms aimed at strengthening county public finance management systems. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Governors have been urged to hasten reforms aimed at
strengthening county public finance management systems by taking a leaf
from pioneer county governments.
By doing so, finance
experts have said, the county bosses will ensure prudent use of public
funds and service delivery to residents.
Counties will
also have to ensure that their devolved units publish information on
their financial plans during the budget making process, which has not
been the case.
Budget analysts recommend that access to
timely and comprehensive information is crucial if the public is to
meaningfully participate in decision making matters.
This
information helps the public shape county budget priorities, discuss
trade-offs with their representatives in the regional assemblies, and
track whether the money is delivering on what was agreed upon during
consultations.
The Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012, mandates county governments to publish implementation reports within 30 days.
“All
counties need to establish and strengthen the county budget and
economic forums as stipulated by Section 137 of the PFM Act, 2012.
This
is an important forum in facilitating consultations between citizens
and county governments on matters planning, budgeting and overall
economic advancement,” said the Institute of Certified Public
Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).
The
accountants’ body said there is a need for capacity-build auditing at
county levels as fulcrums of accountability and prudent public
expenditure management.
“We note that a number of
counties had already initiated efforts and even established these
committees prior to the General Election.
However, we
still have a lot to accomplish to ensure that audit committees are
effective in the entire public sector,” said ICPAK chairman Julius
Mwatu.
Equally, the County Government Act 2012 provides
for county planning, including but not limited to principles and
objectives of county planning.
Section 104 of the Act
stipulates that a county government shall prepare a plan for the county
and no public funds shall be appropriated outside the framework
developed by the county executive committee and approved by the area
assembly.
Section 108 provides for a five-year County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP).
“We
note that some of the initial CIDPs (2013 – 2017) were not as
consultative as envisaged by the constitutional provisions and relevant
statutes,” ICPAK said.
“We urge new leaders to correct
some of these anomalies and develop CIDPs that are truly reflective of
the needs of citizens. It’s only through this mechanism that we’ll be
able to reap the benefits of devolution,” ICPAK noted.
A
survey carried out by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) Kenya
early this year revealed that most county governments do not publish
their budget implementation reports on their websites.
The
study done in February showed that, out of the 47 counties, only
Kirinyaga and Baringo have released any budget implementation reports
for the financial year 2016/2017.
The two counties had published first quarter implementation reports on their websites.
“Baringo
County is unique in that it has been uploading its quarterly
implementation reports, beginning with the first quarter in 2015/2016,”
IBP Kenya said in its latest report released last month.
The
report titled, “2016/2017 Budget Implementation in Kenya: Improving
Performance, Continuing Transparency Challenges”, also indicated that
the other county to have been uploading its quarterly implementation
reports was Kirinyaga, but this had not been as consistent.
“While
it published its first and second quarter 2016/2017 reports, it had not
published any implementation reports prior to this,” IBP Kenya said.
The IBP Kenya budget analysts also noted that the available county reports vary in terms of the information provided.
The
analysts point out that from the reports by the two counties,
non-financial information on performance against targets is still very
general.
Moreover, the data in these reports is not consistent with that of the Office of Controller of Budget reports, the analysts add.
No comments :
Post a Comment