Corruption has caused the public to lose confidence in projects that counties intend to roll out.
Council of Governors chair Josphat Nanok (Turkana) made this observation on Monday while discussing devolution at length.
“Issues of corruption have really affected some of the functions of county governments. Persons found guilty of such offences should be charged so the public has confidence in what we do," he said
at the council's headquarters.
Since the Sh9 billion NYS scandal and the NCPB fraud broke, several senior officers have stepped aside while others have been suspended pending investigations.
On May 30, President Uhuru Kenyatta regretted
that the Sh3.2 billion that was allocated to road construction and repairs was not put to good use.
He warned that those found guilty will be punished.
In addition, Auditor General Edward Ouko flagged Sh20 billion expenditure allocated to the National Irrigation Board for schemes that cannot be accounted for. This was in
his 2015-2016 report
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Nanok also cited
delays in the issuance of funds by Treasury, the ballooning
wage bill, inadequate budgetary allocations and policy-related challenges.
“If we cut down recurrent expenditure, we will increase our sources of revenue," he said.
On health, the COG boss noted efforts by all counties for children below age five to be vaccinated against preventable diseases.
Immunisation coverage currently stands at 70 per cent, he said, and attributed this to commitment by those concerned.
“We are working towards changing the health-seeking behaviour of Kenyans. We are investing money in preventive and promotive services, to reduce the cost of treating patients,” Nanok added.
He called on researchers to collect data on the number of health workers in all counties for checks and balances.
To protect Kenyans from the adverse effects of climate change, the chair called on the National Assembly to pass the Climate Fund Bill that will see two percent of resources from the national government allocated to the National Climate Change Council
“During the long rains season, we all saw what happened to our roads. We need to ensure contractors build roads that can withstand harsh climatic conditions."
On agriculture, Nanok praised the national and
county governments for efforts to enhance food security.
“Even with all these plans, there’s need to increase access to seedlings by small scale farmers to cushion them from costs of production and distribution," he said.
The Governor reported a 37.3 percent growth in domestic tourism
from the previous year, reasons including the promotion of destinations in the country and the region.
Regarding education, he noted an increase in the number of childhood development centres and asked the government to give more money so tutors are hired.
There are 25,135 public Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centers across the country.
Nanok also thanked Danida, World Bank, Global Fund and USAID for funding projects.
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