Orengo says exchequer delays could affect governors’ re-elections
By Eric Juma, December 9, 2025Siaya Governor James Orengo has cited delayed exchequer releases as key factors derailing implementation of projects, and unless the trend changes, the situation is likely to hurt their re-election bid.
Orengo noted that the stagnation of many projects that were prioritised by the public in the budget has resulted from the accumulation of Pending bills.
“So many projects prioritised for implementation for the past 3 years have stalled, and it’s triggered by slow or no release of the exchequer funds,” Orengo said.
Speaking during the state of the County address at the Siaya County assembly on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, Orengo was optimistic that the trend would change next year for Siaya residents to reap the fruits of devolution.
“We have capital projects including roads that should be improved to butamen standards, including Usenge Ring road, Akala Ring road, Sega Ring roads,” he added.
Orengo further said that a total of Ksh 6.4 billion has been invested in infrastructural projects over the last 3 years.
In the Financial year 2022/2023, the Development expenditure stood at Ksh 1.35 billion, which went to Ksh 2.8 billion in 2023/2024, representing a 50 per cent increase, while in the year 2024/2025, we had Ksh 3.6 billion.
“The COB in their budget implementation review for physical year ending June 2024/2025 financial year commended the County government of Siaya as one of the Counties with a high premium on development expenditure,” Orengo said.
Orengo, at the same time, assured the public that Siaya was headed in the right trajectory, arguing that for the first time his administration had attained an unqualified audit report for the County revenue for two consecutive years.
“While all other audit areas, including the County emergency funds bursary funds and County receiver of revenue, have received a qualified opinion, up from the previous state of adverse audit opinion.
“This is not just an accounting milestone but a clear statement that accountability is an imperative under obligation, “said Orengo.
He noted that his own source of revenue has equally improved over the past three years.
“Our revenue collection system, going by the phased rollout of the cashless mechanism, has assumed a positive trajectory over the last three years,” Orengo said.
He added that accumulation of a total of Ksh 2.6 billion in own-source revenue has been realised. In the 2022/2023 financial year, the county had realised Ksh 508 million, representing an 18 per cent increase compared to the previous financial year
This upward trend continued in 2023/2024 with revenue rising to Ksh 610 million. A 20 per cent growth from the previous year.
In the last financial year 2024/2025, we recorded Ksh 948 million in own-source revenue, a milestone largely attributed to the automation of revenue collection systems.
Orengo is sure of collecting more revenues once all the streams are automated.
“Once other revenue streams are fully automated and the valuation roll gets approved by the Siaya Assembly, the revenue projected will increase up to 100 per cent, with its administration processes expected to reduce by 50 per cent, hence allowing us to realise our development targets.
Orengo said his administration has reduced its pending bills.
During the same period, payments amounting to Ksh 457 million and Ksh 609 million were made respectively over the corresponding financial years, leaving an outstanding pending bill balance of Ksh 513.8 million as at the end of the last financial year.
“My administration has established a strong physical framework that will ensure a reduction of the outstanding pending bills, and we invite the County assembly to scrutinise these data for confirmation and record, “Orengo added.
The County boss his administration, adopted a strategy that saw the county’s workforce being assessed.
“When we assumed office, our primary concern was to assess and optimise the performance of the County workforce. We entrenched performance contracts after two years and have also conducted an elaborate staff skill audit in a bid to obtain the right placement of officers, cover skills capacity gaps and align staff as per their qualifications.