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Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang’o is among the leaders who Kenyans will be keeping an eye on this year if her recent remarks on government spending are anything to go by.

Nyakang’o who oversees the implementation of budgets of both national and county governments has in recent days been on news following her remarks that there is budgeted corruption in the country.

While appearing before the National Dialogue Committee that was formed to broker truce between the opposition and government side, Nyakang’o revealed how the National Treasury over-budgeted her salary by three times, and by extension salaries of other State officers, that may have cost the country over Sh 1 billion taxpayer’s money.

She detailed how the National Treasury has been over-budgeting salaries of senior government officials through the Consolidated Fund Services.

In the 2022/2023 financial year, for instance, the National Treasury originally budgeted her annual salary as Sh17.82 million, prompting her office to raise concerns as the figure was way above what she was taking home annually.

And apart from the views she made before the committee, Dr Nyakang’o in her report of the first three months of financial year Y 2023/24 revealed that there was over budgeting of the Salaries and allowances budget despite salaries and allowances for the holders of the Constitutional Offices being known and having been gazetted by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

She said: “The National Treasury should ensure the budget is as realistic as possible. In the meantime, appropriate reallocation should be done through a supplementary budget to avoid over budgeting.”

And aside from keeping the National government in check, her role in monitoring counties expenditure is also another reason that makes her be one of the individuals whose focus will be on, especially after she recently released a report showing how counties have misplaced priorities.

The report capturing the counties’ expenditure for the first quarter of the 2023-2024 financial year, revealed how counties sunk billions of shillings in non-priority projects — such as large sums on sitting allowances for MCAs, domestic and foreign travel, car loans and mortgages and landscaping and beautification of buildings.

Among the most ridiculous expenses were millions of shillings spent on locust emergencies that could not be clearly accounted for. Others were high costs incurred in the renovation of residencies for County Assembly Speakers. Many of the expenses were prioritized over spending on public goods and services, such as upgrade of roads and hospitals and improvement of nursery schools.

Reads the report: “The cumulative recurrent expenditure during the period under review amounted to Sh60.52 billion, representing 17.5 per cent of the annual County Government’s budget for recurrent activities, an improvement from 16.5 per cent recorded in a similar period of FY 2022/23 when expenditure was Sh52.60 billion.”

The other key person to watch will Auditor General Nancy Gathungu owing to the crucial role she plays in keeping the government in check by ensuring there is the minimum wastage of public resources especially at this time when prices of commodities have been skyrocketing.

Gathungu who has been monitoring Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) is this year expected to be move visible owing to the fact that she is supposed to release audit reports of how the agencies have been performing under President William Ruto’s administration in the 2023/2024 financial year.

At the moment, Gathungu has only been releasing audit reports of MDA’s under the former administration headed by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Her role is crucial as she expected to also brief the country as to whether the measures put in place by Ruto’s administration specially to deal with public debt and borrowing have been achieved.

This comes at a time when the country has been spending more money on paying debt than the whole recurrent expenditure in the last Financial Year ending June.

Gathungu is also expected to also inform Kenyans of statues of various government projects how far they are in terms of implementation and whether there is value for money.

This comes at a time when she recently released a report of how various government entities have spent monies allocated to them the most notable institutions are Kenya Power, Kengen as well as the state department for education on scholarships.

On scholarships, she unearthed a number of irregularities involving billions of shillings that were disbursed in various primary schools.

The audit reveals a myriad of queries relating to issuance of stale cheques, having un-surrendered disbursements and unsupported expenditure worth Sh1.7 billion as well as irregular disbursement of the scholarships worth Sh1.65 billion.

On Kenya Power, she raised concerns that for the seven-year running it has been operating at a loss and is on the verge of collapsing.

The other is Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro who chairs the Budget and Appropriations Committee is a man to watch this year owing to the role his committee plays especially in the Budget making process.

Kenyans will be eager to see how his committee will deal with the coming budget for the 2024/2025 financial year especially at this time when Kenyans are grappling with high cost of living.

Nyoro’s committee is crucial as it is expected to come up with tax measures that the government can use to finance its budget.

During last year’s budget making process, the committee upheld the proposal in the Finance bill to increase tax on fuel from eight to 16 percent despite opposition from the Azimio la Umoja side.

The government used its numerical strength in the house to push through the proposals despite Azimio La Umoja MPs opposing the move saying it would adversely affect the cost of living.

The National Treasury had proposed that from July 1, the VAT pricing on petroleum products go up from the current 8 per cent enacted during the tenure of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The passage of the said proposal came despite President William Ruto in his campaigns, promising to address the high cost of living by fixing heavy taxation on Kenyans whom he said were being overtaxed.

Council of Governors chair Anne Waiguru will also be a person to watch

The Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru who is serving her second term having clinched the seat in 2017 and reelected during the 2022 general elections.

She has made record after being elected the first woman to chair the Council of Governor (CoG). As Governor of Kirinyaga, she will be aiming to build a strong support within her Central region backyard while the position of the COG chair may act as springboard to bid in the national politics after serving her 10-year governorship term.

At some point in October, and in what was a bold move, she took Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua head on faulting him over his remarks about the disbursement of funds to mitigate effects of Elnino rains.

Waiguru accused Gachagua of playing populist politics at the detriment of struggling counties that were ill prepared to tackle Elnino challenges as the national government continued to withhold the money owed to the devolved units.

She is currently the among the most influential female politicians in the Mount Kenya region. She is swift in making political maneuvers which has worked to her advantage.

In 2017 she decamped from the Jubilee coalition despite being a close ally of the then party leader former President Uhuru Kenyatta and joined President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) to eventually win the governor’s seat.

Her defection to UDA displaced Wangui Ngirichi who part of the inner circle that formed the Ruto’s party and was instrumental in popularising it in the Mt Kenya region. The two never met eye to eye until in August when they met publicly when President Ruto toured Kirinyaga to launch a water project.

During the event, they were seen exchanging pleasantries and even shared a podium when Waiguru invited Ngirichi to speak for the first time after Ruto appointed her as the chairperson of the Kenya Seed Company.

Equally on the radar is her Nairobi counterpart Governor Johnson Sakaja

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s rapid rise through the ranks of Kenyan politics has made him a figure to watch. He entered national politics in 2017 by winning the Nairobi Senate seat where he quickly established himself as a vocal and articulate legislator while eyeing the governorship seat.

While in the Senate, he played his cards well and with his charismatic politics he managed to garner significant public attention and support to win the City’s top seat during the 2022 general elections. One year in office and Sakaja has hit the ground running.

The free feeding programme for primary schools targeting over 250000 learners in Nairobi which he started implemented late last year is among the notable achievement of his administration. He also announced that the public will access Uhuru Park which has been under renovation since February 2022 free of charge.

In the New Year, Sakaja is expected to address challenges affecting other sectors including the ever-unending cat and mouse race between hawkers and City council law enforcers. Additionally, the perennial traffic jam within the CBD as matatus turn lower Nairobi streets into passenger picking zones as well as garbage collection.

There appears to be discontent among hawkers as Sakaja plans to relocate them to back streets where he has built shelters for hawkers to sell their goods.

Several estates also lack constant supply of water and have poor drainage and sewerage systems How Sakaja will manage the affairs of the capital city will determine his entry into national politics in the years to come. Being an ally of President William Ruto, he has assured of the government’s support in making the city hospitable to the residents.