Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o has flagged six counties, which have been operating more than 200 commercial bank accounts.

In the first quarter County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report (CGBIRR) report covering July to September 2024, Nyakang’o named Machakos ( Wavinya Ndeti), Kiambu (Kimani Wamatangi), Elgeyo Marakwet (Wisley Rotich), Bungoma (Ken Lusaka), Baringo (Benjamin Cheboi) and Nakuru (Susan Kihika) as the counties that have opened up many accounts.

This, the report says, is contrary to Regulations 82(1)(b) of the PFM (County Governments) Regulations, 2015, which requires that county government bank accounts be opened and maintained at the Central Bank of Kenya.

The report has also raised concerns over the failure by Nairobi county (Johnson Sakaja), Narok (Patrick ole Ntutu) and Nyandarua (Moses Badilisha) to provide details of the number of accounts that they have.

Reads the report: “The County Treasury did not disclose the number of accounts operated in the Commercial Bank.”

The report has also raised concerns over use of manual payroll processing by counties saying this was prone to abuse and thus asked counties to migrate their payrolls to the Human Resource Information System – Kenya by June 30, 2025 as agreed during the third National Wage Bill Conference.

The report notes that personnel emoluments amounting to Sh2 billion, representing 5 per cent of the total payroll cost, were processed through manual payroll systems, that is, outside the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database.

Few exceptions
Reads the report: “Reliance on manual payroll systems is susceptible to misuse and increases the risk of public funds being lost due to inadequate controls.”

It adds: “County governments should process their payroll through the prescribed payroll system to enhance efficiency, ensure accuracy, and mitigate potential risks associated with manual processing.”

In the case of the accounts being operated in commercial banks, in Machakos county for instance, the reports show that the county government operated 221 accounts, of which 192 are related to healthcare facilities yet all accounts are supposed to be opened and maintained at CBK.

The only exception counties have been given to open accounts outside CBK is for imprest bank accounts for petty cash and revenue collection bank accounts.

In Kiambu, the report notes that the county operates 292 accounts, of which 239 were for healthcare facilities while in Elgeyo Marakwet, the County operates 155 accounts of which Sub County hospitals and dispensaries operate 124.

In Bungoma, the county operates 300 accounts, 145 of which were for sub-county hospitals, 14 for level four, five hospitals, and 115 for tertiary institutions while in Baringo, the County operated 292 accounts, 256 of which were for health centres, dispensaries and hospitals.

In Nakuru, the county operates 301 accounts, of which 195 were for county hospitals and 70 for Vocational Training Centres.

Reads the report: “This is contrary to Regulations 82(1)(b) of the PFM (County Governments) Regulations, 2015, which requires that County government bank accounts be opened and maintained at the Central Bank of Kenya. The only exemption is for imprest bank accounts for petty cash and revenue collection bank accounts.”

Few exemptions
The other counties that have high accounts include Embu county (Cecily Mbarire) which has 46 accounts, of which 17 were for healthcare facilities, Homa Bay county (Gladys Wanga) with 26 accounts out of which five were for the county assembly.

Kajiado county ( Joseph ole Lenku) operates 50 accounts, of which seven are for healthcare, Kakamega county (Fernandes Barasa) operates 44 accounts, of which five are for healthcare facilities, Kericho county (Eric Mutai) operates 25 accounts with of which 12 are for County Funds.

Kisumu county (Governor Anyang’ Nyongo) has 23 accounts of which seven are related to funds, Kwale (Fatuma Achani) operates a total of 64 accounts, of which seven are related to healthcare facilities.

Lamu county (Issa Timamy) operates 40 accounts, five of which were for hospitals and another five for vocational training centres while Makueni county (Mutula Kilonzo junior) has a total of 39 accounts out of which 17 accounts were for county hospitals.

Migori county (Ochilo Ayacko) operates 76 accounts of which 29 were for County Hospitals, Mombasa county (Abdullswamad Nassir) has 25 accounts of which three were healthcare-related.

Murang’a county (Irungu Kang’ata) operates 21 accounts, of which eight were for county hospitals.

Taita Taveta county (Andrew Mwadime) operates 37 accounts out of which nine are for healthcare facilities, Tana River county ( Godhana Dhadho) has 32 accounts, while Turkana county (Jeremiah Ekamais) operates 26 accounts.