Counties have been given 30 days to make their financial operations public or miss out on government funding.
The Commission on Administrative Justice yesterday said they will block funding to the devolved units if they don’t improve transparency.
“We’re allowed by law to write to the National Treasury and tell them there is no point of releasing resources to counties because they operate in secrecy,” commission chairperson Florence Kajuju said.
The directive also applied to state corporations and ministries, Kajuju told reporters in Nairobi.
She spoke when she launched a report on the status of proactive disclosure of information in government. The report was compiled by the agency. Kajuju warned public officers mandated to release such information against concealing it.
Public Service CS Margaret Kobia said administrative sanctions will be issued against officers who fail to release information.
“Access to information is intended to curb malpractices and enhance transparency in public institutions. It enhance awareness and make officers accountable to their actions,” Kobia said in a speech read on her behalf by PS Francis Owino.
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Access to Information Act, 2016 requires public agencies to release information on their financial operations.
The survey indicted counties, ministries and state corporations for non-disclosure of information.
The Ombudsman looked up n information about decision making processes, how the institutions spend resources and what they said about polices and public procurement. Counties were found to be the worst institutions in availing information to the public.
Only 43 per cent of the 47 devolved units have complied with the requirement.
Fifty per cent of the ministries pro-actively provided information to the public while 64 per cent of parastatals complied. “There is a relatively high level of non-compliance ( 48 per cent),” the report says.
A majority of entities, 91 per cent, provided information about who they are and what they do, but only 46 per cent availed information about procurement of goods and services.
Only 30 per cent disclosed information on how resources were used and nine per cent explaining their procurement processes. Another 55 per cent gave partial information while 30 per cent provided nothing.
“Whereas most of the websites had information on tender advertisements, they did give details of the tenders awarded, contractors, contract sums and time-frames for execution,” the report says.
All counties and national government ministries were selected for the survey. Some 30 state corporations were also included in the survey carried out between January 15 and 23.