By Mercy Musangi
Kitui and Machakos county are among the 28 counties which have been denied cash requests by the Controller of Budgets Mrs Margaret Nyango in the last seven months.
Mrs. Nyakango
During the period, CoB said it received a total of Kes 182.7 billion requisitions out of which only Kes 179.5 billion were approved.
The 28 counties' declined requisitions were equivalent to two percent of the total requests.
The two counties were in a cohort of devolved units that requested for over Kes 150 million. Others in this league include Kisii,Turkana and Samburu.
Failure to justify why Kitui and Machakos county needed this amount of money, Diversion of funds by the counties, failure to follow cash request guidelines,wastage of the earlier issued funds and high wage bill outside the legal threshold are among some of the reasons which led to denial of these cash requests, according to a report on Approval of Requisitions by CoB
Other counties denied cash includ Bungoma,Kisii,Nairobi and Narok among others, due to unsupported expenditure on foreign travel and frequent requests for standing imprests for the same offices instead of replenishments and without taking personal responsibility for them.
Other reasons stated by the CoB includ high wage bill outside the Integrated Payroll and Personell Data Base( IPPD), irregular diversion of funds meant for salaries to operation expenses, mainly statutory and other payroll deductions.
Concerning the matter, the affected counties were advised by the CoB to liaise with the National Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya to automate the exchequer process to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in funds release and accountability while reducing human interaction.
