• Controller of Budget declines to release until executive accounts for Sh90 million.
• City finance department blamed for not submitting quarterly reports.
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGA
Needy children who depend on bursary funds are facing an uncertain future following a stand-off between the Nairobi county government and the Controller of Budget.
A meeting held yesterday in attempt to find a solution for the delay of 2018 bursaries turned into a blame game.
County finance executive, assembly Finance, Budget and Appropriation committee, county attorney and Controller of Budget officials attended the meeting.
The committee had called upon the officers from the Controller of Budget's office to explain why Sh400 million bursary funds for the financial year had not been released.
Last week, it was revealed that the Controller of Budget could not release the funds until the executive accounts for Sh90 million which was given last year.
An officer from the office of Controller of Budget Fariyah Ibrahim said that until the money is accounted for she could not release any more.
"Our hands are tied. Unless the Sh90 million is accounted we cannot release this year’s funds,” she said.
Ibrahim blamed the finance department for not submitting the quarterly reports.
"The administrator of the bursary is meant to file quarterly reports on how money has been used but they [finance] have not been doing this. This is despite writing to the county treasury on numerous occasions asking them to provide these documents,” she said.
At this juncture, the education and finance departments engaged in a blame game on whose responsibility it was to produce the report.
Finance executive Charles Kerich blamed the education department for not preparing the documents.
"As the finance department our mandate is to facilitate the process but the administrator of the funds from the education department should have provided the required documents,” Kerich said.
The director of education Ruth Owour responded that she had earlier sought correspondence from the finance department to assist her in doing the report writing.
"On several occasions we have written to finance to give us details such as the number of bursary cheques which had been issued and other information but there was no response," she said.
Embakasi MCA Michael Ogada blamed the executive for laxity, saying that it had contributed to the delay of the bursary.
“I know if they were interested in solving the issue this would have been done before the financial year ended," Ogada said.
But defending his department, Kerich told the committee that they have been having engagements with the Cooperative Bank and tabled documents that all the funds had been misappropriated.
He further stated that out of the Sh357 million bursary funds that city hall received Sh274 million disbursed through the county and Sh66 million was distributed to beneficiaries through the bank.
"There was also a bank balance of Sh13 million. All the money has been accounted for so I'm sincerely urging that the controller of budget to release the bursary launched this year and any queries arising should be investigated independently, 'Kerich explained.
The Finance, Budget and Appropriation Committee chairman Robert Mbatia directed that the finance department should issue the documentation on the expenditure to the controller of budget to fast track the issuance of bursaries.
“If the finance department is being honest with the MCAs then they should receive their bursaries by next week,” he said.