•Lawmakers have developed Bill to compel National Assembly to allocate them oversight money.
•Their previous attempts to get the money have been futile.
Image: FILE
Senators could soon get their way in their push for a Sh2 billion county oversight fund to monitor the financial operations of the devolved units.
The lawmakers have developed a Bill which, if passed, will see them allocated the money in the budget by the National Assembly for oversight of counties.
The County Oversight and Accountability Bill 2018 seeks to give the senators immense powers to monitor how governors are utilise the billions sent to devolved funds.
According to the Bill, Senators will be the overall persons mandated with the oversight role and shall establish oversight offices, complete with technical staff, to effectively monitor the operations of the counties.
“A senator shall, in carrying out the oversight role over pubic participation and oversight role over the collection, use and management of finances, establish an oversight office in county consisting of such persons as the senator may consider necessary,” the Bill states.
A senator, the Bill states, shall hire at least three people who are professionals in budget control, audit, monitoring and evaluation for effective oversight.
County executives shall be mandated to provide the senator with information necessary for oversight.
The senators have been pushing for the establishment of a Sh2 billion monitoring and evaluation fund to oversee the operations of the counties.
They argue that there is a lot of wastage of public funds in the counties and the fund is important to enhance the senate’s role to correct the mess.
However, their attempts have been squashed by their colleagues in the National Assembly that have consistently struck out the allocations from the budget.
Last month, MPs removed Sh500 million from the 2019-20 budget that had been allocated under the Senate Affairs Programme for oversight.
The new Bill is sponsored by Narok Senator Ledama Olekina.
“The senator shall carry out required evaluation and may prepare for circulation within the county a report on the public finances of the county and participation of residents in the decision making process with respect to public finances in the county,” it says.
The Bill further provides that senators shall facilitate public participation through public awareness campaigns in each ward within the respective county.
The proposed law also compels the county governments to develop public participation facilities within their respective counties for effective engagement of the residents.
“Any county government shall appropriate funds for the construction and renovation of existing pubic participation within the county,” it provides.
The Bill is currently in the Third Reading in the Senate and will be forwarded to the National Assembly for their input after the senators pass it.