In Summary;
- HBC resolution
- Crisis meeting
- Delays in Budget submissionÂ
- Salary Shortage
- Pending Bills
- Duplication of Payments arrests
Bungoma County government has been thrown in further financial crisis as the Assembly turns down Governor Wycliffe Wangamati’s push to have both the 2nd Supplementary and the main budget passed at the same time without due process. The HBC noted that even if they started appropriating the 2nd Supplementary, it would then spill over into the next financial year and therefore uploading in the system wont be possible. The committee noted that it takes about 5 weeks to appropriate any budget
Public Finance Management Act dictates that appropriation of any budget elapses at the end of the financial year 30 June 2021
The Executive is yet to submit the Main Budget to the Assembly 20 days to the end of the financial year.
Funds allocated in the 1st supplementary budget are yet to be utilized with pending bills still unsettled and Assembly not receiving a single cent. This is one of the reasons the assembly is reluctant to allocate more funds when its obvious they wont be used as planned.
The House Business Committee which is mandated to prepare the order paper in the house now has 5 supporting the governor as 9 are opposed to the irregular ways advocated by the county CEO. After houses of deliberations the majority in the Committee had their way by voting 9 against 5 towards the shelving of the second supplementary budget as they reminded the executive that they needed to be discussing the main budget now and not any supplementary. The supplementary budget was therefore expunged from the order paper.
The stalemate between the Assembly and executive is by far hurting the economy of this county with the assembly insisting on due process while the executive prefers shortcuts. This has led to the executive trying to arm-twist the assembly by withholding salaries and allowances and diverting development funds Kshs. 100million meant to finish construction and equiping of the new Assembly offices. There exist a serious financial crisis with salary shortage and pending bill top on the list (see figures below)
Crisis meeting;
After the HBC meeting, 26 pro-Wangamati MCAs retreated to Santa-Mara resort where they held a crisis meeting facilitated by Wangamati at a cost of Kshs. 600,000/=. They resolved to bring business of the house to a standstill by forcing a majority vote contrary to the laid down rules. They therefore entrusted the new Minority leader Hon. Mwambu to champion the course.
Salary Shortage;
My rats unearthed the Salary shortages per department as well as all pending bills per dept. where specific companies were mentioned. We also discovered half of the depts. sent lump sum figures for pending bills without supporting documents against the laid down rules. This shortage will most likely be felt in June if the supplementary budget does not come in handy.
Attempts by junior officers to follow up on missing info has been met with threats of redeployment and/or accusations of being insubordination even when no one wants to commit their “orders” in written.
Pending Bills;
Bungoma County government has a long list of pending bills which are sometimes paid with bias and corruption. The list of pending bills is attached below (download pdf) where you’ll find names of suppliers/contractors and what they are owed.
Download here;Â PENDING BILLS – Bungoma County 28.5.2021
Duplication of Payments arrests;
#iKUWEiKUWE has also learnt that Director Muchanga has been relieved off his duties as the last man in making payments in the Internet Banking a role that has now been entrusted with Chief Officer Finance Dinah Naswa Makokha. Muchanga is alleged to have made numerous duplicate payments under the supervision of his boss from the County Secretary’s vote-head. Sources indicate that the money was meant to bribe EACC as well as “kupigia mwili pole” for its said that the bosses normally eat alone and this was an opportunity for the hustlers to eat… Unfortunate for them Nairobi Treasury (IFMIS) has a way of tracking duplicate payments and therefore alerted EACC prompting the most recent arrests of 6 county employees including CO Denson Barasa. The Executive almost perfectly covered it by sending the wrong signal to the public by ensuring the Asset Tagging scandal involving Denson was given prominence as the duplicate payments almost went unnoticed.
