The Senate Public Accounts Committee yesterday questioned the Sh61 million set aside by county chiefs for the Council of Governors operations during the 2013-14 financial year.
The senators said there is no law to back the expenditure. The committee raised concerns about the large sums county chiefs deduct from their county allocations to contribute towards the governors’ kitty.
The Inter-Governmental Relations Act, on which law the council is anchored, states that the CoG should draw its funding from the national government.
PAC chairman and Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o said, “A law has to be in place to support any additional funding from the county allocations. We will make a recommendation in our report that this cannot continue being done.”
Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya had defended the legality of the contribution, saying the expenditure was approved by the County Executive Committee and a resolution of the council through a meeting held in April 2013.
“Governors felt that to bridge the underfunding from the national government, each county government make a contribution towards the kitty,” Mvurya told the committee.
But Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi and his West Pokot counterpart John Lonyangapuo said expenditure must be supported by law.
“Such a contribution must be given legislative support, mainly from individual county assemblies or Parliament. The contribution must be debated in the county assembly and either passed as a budget or rejected,” Wamatangi said.
Lonyangapuo said governors should be surcharged.
“It defeats logic why a struggling county like Kwale, with all its challenges, should be using the little funds given to it to uplift their status on expenditure that is not supported by any law,” he said.
Taita Taveta Senator John Mruttu was taken to task over Sh94 million used to buy four graders.
The Auditor General said there is no evidence to show the graders were bought.
In April, MPs faulted governors for “secretly” sending money meant for grassroots development to the CoG headquarters.
The lawmakers said the Sh998.5 million sent over three years was “immoral”.
They said the governors had taken advantage of devolution to find a way to “plunder county resources”.