Some 21 counties irregularly paid Sh87.8 million to fund operations of the Council of Governors (CoG) and other regional caucus bodies during the year ended last June, a new audit report shows.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu’s latest disclosures indicate that the payments were contrary to the provisions of the Intergovernmental Relations Act 2012, which dictate that CoG’s operational expenses be provided for in the annual estimates of the national government.
Ms Gathungu further said the regional bodies that some counties remitted millions of shillings in subscription fees are not legally recognised.
During the period, Nyeri County made the largest payment to the CoG of Sh8 million, followed by Kiambu, which wired Sh6.6 million to both the governors’ umbrella body as well as to the Kenya Inter County Sports and Cultural Association (Kicosca).
Kicosca organises an annual games event that brings together county government employees to compete and interact and is aimed at promoting cohesion and collaboration among the 47 devolved units.
Samburu was also flagged for remitting Sh3 million to the CoG and an additional Sh3.6 million subscription fee to a caucus body dubbed Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC), with Wajir suffering the same fate after paying Sh3.5 million to the COG and Sh3 million to FCDC.
FCDC fashions itself as a regional economic bloc bringing together the county governments of Lamu, Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, Turkana, Samburu, and West Pokot.
“The statement of receipts and payments reflects use of goods and services amount of Sh1,459,188,123, which includes an amount of Sh437,848,253 in respect of other operating expenses out of which, amounts of Sh3,000,000 and Sh3,604,800 were payment for annual subscription to the Council of Governors and Frontier Counties Development Council, respectively,” wrote Ms Gathungu of Samburu.
“However, the operational expenses for the Council of Governors an entity established under Intergovernmental Relations Act, 2012 are supposed to be provided from the annual estimates of the National Government while Frontier Counties Development Council has not been established under the law to receive public funding.”
Others were Lamu which paid Sh2 million to the COG and a similar amount to FCDC, Wajir which paid Sh2 million to the CoG and Sh1 million to FCDC, Siaya which sent Sh3 million to the COG and Sh1.5 million to the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) and Migori which paid Sh3 million to the CoG and Sh2 million to LREB.
Other payments exclusively to the CoG included that of Nandi (Sh5. million), Kwale (Sh4 million), Makueni (Sh3.6 million), Kitui (Sh3.2 million) and Nyandarua (Sh1.4 million).
Tharaka Nithi and Narok counties paid Sh5 million each to the CoG while Embu, Laikipia, Vihiga, and Kilifi paid Sh3 million each.
