Nakuru residents demand stake in budget making

Nakuru Monday April 17, 2023

K.N.A By Anne Sabuni

Residents of Nakuru want the county government to involve them in the making of a supplementary budget process poking holes on the need for amendments to the rules governing the exercise.

The residents, who accused the county officials of undoing the gains made in the budget making process, noted that the supplementary budget was to blame for little or no development at the grassroots as funds were diverted to non-priority projects.

A spot check by KNA revealed that the public was less aware of what the supplementary budget was all about, creating room for leaders to divert funds to other non-priority areas.

“We hardly see any public meetings calling for our input into the supplementary budgets and yet the changes are crucial as they shelf our priorities to afford the county funds.

“Even after the budgets are discussed at the assembly and approved, documents on the same remain scant in public domain for scrutiny,” regretted James Mwasia.

The Nakuru Civil Society Organizations forum pocked holes in the manner in which supplementary budgets are conducted by various Counties and at the National level, calling for adherence to the law.

Rift Valley Budget Hub Coordinator Evans Kibet noted that the budget making process allowed for over nine months of planning that give the officers and the public ample time to properly project their expenditures and revenues for efficient implementation.

“The Public Finance Management (PFM)Act allows for supplementary budgets in extra ordinary circumstances but we have cases where governments have introduced budgets for reasons not anticipated by the Act.

“The numbers of the reviews themselves are expected to be once or twice in a financial year, but some revise their budgets even up to 5 times, against the law,” noted Kibet, regretting that some budget reviews are tabled a few months to the closure of the financial year.

The citizens regretted that the lack of transparency in the formulation and enactment of the supplementary budgets denied them opportunities to follow-up on the expenditures noting that some devolved sectors have suffered immensely.

The Centre regretted that the resultant documents by the executive and the county legislature are never availed for public scrutiny, with details of the sectors that suffer the brunt of reallocation remaining under lock and key.

Nakuru County Civil Society Chairperson Paul Masese, while noting the role of the audit reports noted the need to adhere to the law that demanded that the citizens be involved at all stages.

“It is about time the citizens get involved and pinpoint specific mishaps to hold the county to account, specifically the County Assembly that is supposed to discuss and action the audit reports,” noted Masese.

The Analyst regretted that the weka internal audit systems in Nakuru County government were to blame for misappropriation of funds.

Courtesy K.N.A