Taskforce: Siaya operating on Sh1b deficit for 3 years
By KNA, January 23, 2023The Siaya county government has over the last three years been operating on a Sh1billion budget deficit, a taskforce led by former Auditor General, Edward Ouko has revealed.
The team, charged with reviewing financial operations among other things, also accused the Siaya County Assembly of exceeding its mandate by changing the Executive’s budget proposals beyond the one per cent limit allowed by the Public Finance Management Act, 2015.
Speaking during the release of the taskforce findings at the county headquarters, Ouko (pictured) lamented that the Assembly has been overhauling the budget proposals without reference to the Executive.
“It appears that the Assembly has usurped the Executive’s role in the budget making process. This can be considered a material breach of the principle of separation of powers and compromises the oversight function of the assembly,” said the former Auditor General.
On the budget deficit, the taskforce said since 2019/20 financial year, the county government has operated a financial deficit budget of Sh1,125,000,000 annually.
The report said attempts by the devolved government to plug the deficit through reduction or elimination of allocations to some projects have always led to creation of pending bills thus exacerbating the cycle of financial deficit.
The taskforce said the county had pending bills amounting to Sh1,036,606,598.36 out of which Sh463,161,010.13 were from the development expenditure while Sh573,445,588.23 for recurrent expenditure.
It, however, flagged out a total of Sh20,831,038 of the pending bills as ineligible and ought not to be paid.
A further Sh118,714,369 of the pending bills were also flagged as ineligible for payment as there were no support documentation.
Siaya governor James Orengo said his government will implement the recommendations of the taskforce which called for, among other things, more autonomy for the county public service board.
Orengo said the taskforce faced several challenges, among them court cases challenging its validity but all were dismissed.
Relevant laws
Alego/Usonga MP Samuel Atandi hailed the report, saying that it has boldly pointed out the cause of poor development in the county. He said that as leaders, they will follow up with the relevant bodies to ensure that all the recommendations were implemented.
The executive director of the community initiative action group, Chris Owala who also hailed the report, took issue with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for contributing to impunity in the county through inconclusive investigations.
“You cannot investigate cases forever. There must be time limit,” said Owala. He added that the investigative bodies’ lethargic investigations have been giving suspects opportunity to interfere with the cases.
Owala at the same time called on the government to evoke relevant laws and recover the assets acquired through corruption. Also present were among others the Siaya County Commissioner, Jim Njoka, Deputy Governor William Oduol and the County Police Commander, Michael Muchiri.