Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga has acknowledged the competence and integrity of Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, while cautioning that she may be stepping beyond her constitutional mandate.

Speaking during an interview on a local TV Station on Thursday, July 17, 2025, Wanga defended Nyakang’o’s qualifications and experience, but questioned the extent to which her office is involved in the implementation phase of county budgets.

“She is a strong, very, very strong woman, competent. We approved her in the National Assembly when I was there to become the Controller of Budget, after Agnes was the previous controller,” she said.

“The Controller of Budget cannot be the Auditor and be the Controller of Budget at the same time.”

Wanga was quick to note that Nyakang’o knows her stuff and is fully aware of her core responsibilities, which include overseeing whether county governments are spending within their approved budget allocations.

“She knows what she is doing. What we want, the area where it sometimes becomes a conflict, is when you oversee the implementation of the budget. What does that mean?” Wanga asked.

She elaborated that oversight of budget implementation should primarily concern itself with monitoring whether counties are adhering to the figures and purposes outlined in their budgets.

 “Are you implementing your budget as you stated it? For example, we said our salaries are going to be 200 million. Are you spending that 200 million? Or is that 200 million sitting there and spent? That is oversight implementation,” she posed rhetorically.

However, Wanga warned against the Controller of Budget overreaching into the functions of other independent offices.

“The Auditor General reported that. If I come today, how did you spend the money last time?’ Bring me the receipts of how you spent the money. That’s now an audit. Now that is of a different office—the Office of the Auditor General,” she emphasised.

Overstepping mandate?

According to Wanga, if the Controller has constitutional concerns about specific expenditures, such as county bursaries, those should be raised at the point of budget submission, not midway through the financial year.

“If she feels bursaries are not a role for counties, she should tell you at that point, ‘remove this budget for bursaries, apply it somewhere else,’” she said.

“Once she takes the budget and she uploads it and it has all those items, then when you go to draw, she tells you. No, now this is not your role,’ in the middle of the financial year… surely?”

Wanga explained that county budgets undergo multiple layers of vetting and public participation before approval.

“I have to go to the people, do public participation, go everywhere, come to the assembly again, and do public participation. Then that is when it is passed. I assent to it,” she said.

The County boss argued that withholding funds due to perceived misuse, without audit evidence, compromises constitutional processes.

“We have a budget, and we have to implement that budget for the people, and we are accountable to the people, and we are accountable to that constitution. We swear by it,” she asserted.

While reiterating that misuse of funds should be dealt with firmly, Wanga stressed the importance of institutional boundaries.

“If I use it [the money], the Auditor General is there. Will flag it. Then, once it is flagged, it will go to the Senate. Then the Senate will say EACC. Because when we go to the Senate, EACC is seated there, DCI, all those people,” she said.

She called for clarity in roles to avoid conflict and ensure orderly governance.

“Let everybody run in their lane. That’s when we can have order in our governance system,” Wanga said.