Not me, blame it on Controller of Budget, Mbadi says over county cash crunch

 

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi when he apperaed before the vetting committee on August 3, 2024. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

National Treasurer John Mbadi now says the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakango is to blame for the perennial cash crunch that bedevils the counties.

Mbadi on Thursday said Nyakango and her office should be held responsible for what he termed as ‘rent-seeking’ games while hampering the county government’s operations.

The CS spoke in Naivasha during a consultative meeting with the county chiefs.

“It must be clear that once the national treasury transfers money, it must reach the devolved units. We must have systems in place that ensure once this money is transferred, it trickles down to the counties,” said Mbadi.

In a scathing attack on the Controller of Budget and her office operations, Mbadi said It was unfair that county officials in the finance department have to travel from as far as Turkana to get their monies cleared, yet that would be an assignment done on the phone.

Mbadi who was responding to queries from the governors on late disbarments of funds as well as a conversation on increasing county allocations, accused the CoB of introducing unnecessary bottlenecks in disbursement

“I wish the controller of the budget was here, I have a problem with her office. I don’t mince my words. I say them as they are. Once we transfer money to counties, let that money reach the counties, there should be no bottlenecks. There is no reason governors that your officers are always in Nairobi to clear with CoB…that is rent-seeking and it should stop…,” he said.

Currently, counties have gone over 3 months without allocations and the governors have been pushing for a total shutdown to force the National Treasury to release funds to counties as a biting cash crunch threatens to bring vital operations to a halt.

As the wait continues, county workers claim they are barely surviving while others are contemplating quitting the workforce as they grapple with huge debts.

Council of Governors (CoG) Finance, Planning, and Economy Committee Chairperson Fernandes Barasa says the National Treasury owes counties Sh104 billion for a period of three months.

In some counties, workers have gone for more than two months without pay while few have been lucky after devolved units entered into agreements with banks to offset salaries.

But Mbadi said there is no reason why money should be idling in the account yet counties are struggling to operate.

“Money idling in the accounts is not good for the economy. Currently, KRA is not meeting its target because money is kept at the account because someone is asking questions that do not make sense,” said Mbadi.

He added, “I’ve always wanted a forum where I can tell her publicly, that she must reign in on her officers and that does not mean I am attacking her, I am only criticising her because she should be reminded that she cannot be the controller of budget and the auditor at the same time.”

While insisting on diminished allocations to counties, Mbadi said the treasury can only afford Sh380 billion as opposed to the Sh400 billion being asked by the counties.

The issue has however caused friction between the two levels of Government, with county governments demanding nothing less more so with the rollout of Social Health Insurance.

Mbadi has also turned his guns on the governors for what he said was bad manners of replicating offices.

Some of you governors are having a difficult time managing your wage bills yet you have copied bad manners from the national government of replicating so many offices that add no value. I want to challenge you today that do away with those offices and let the money be diverted to things that add value,” he said.

He said his leadership is committed to ensuring that money is released at the right time to keep the county governments afloat.