Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o is overstepping her mandate by holding funds meant for the counties, the Council of Governors has said.
CoG chairperson Wycliffe Oparanya said Nyakang’o has no authority to withhold funds allocated to counties through unconstitutional conditions.
“You need to facilitate counties as required by the law, failure which, we will seek legal intervention,” he said.
Oparanya said that the process for allocating funds to counties is transparent and is reached at after the participation of the public and Parliament.
"The request from your office on the provision of additional documentation to facilitate your approval of withdrawal of funds amounts to auditing,” Oparanya wrote to the CoB on Monday.
The letter addressed to Nyakang’o was copied to all governors and county executive committee members.
The Kakamega Governor was responding to new demands by the Controller of Budget to counties before she releases funds.
The demands include a list of county employees outside the Integrated Personnel Payroll Data and casual employees who have worked for more than three months.
"Your office has also demanded county governments provide different Internet banking reports for multiple payments to individuals or suppliers,” Oparanya protested.
Oparanya said he had been notified by other governors and Finance CECs that the Controller of Budget had failed to facilitate timely access to funds.
He said that only the offices of the Auditor General and Senate were mandated to have an oversight role of the county government expenditure.
Oparanya told counties not to respond to the queries until the issue is solved through consultation.
