Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1564272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 99,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Further, the Committee requested the clerks of the 47 county assemblies to submit written management responses. The committee resolved to adopt the Auditor-General’s reports for 45 county assemblies as submitted by the Auditor-General. The committee noted that two county assemblies, namely, Homa Bay and Migori, had adverse opinions and prepared its report on the two county assemblies, which were tabled and adopted by the Senate. The Committee further conducted a comprehensive fiduciary risk analysis from the Auditor-General’s reports for all the counties during FY 2023/2024. This rigorous examination revealed systemic weaknesses in public financial management across county governments, with a cumulative fiduciary exposure amounting to Kshs532.67 billion. The detailed fiduciary risk report was tabled, presented and adopted by the Senate on 27th March, 2025. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in terms of budgetary compliance, the Committee observed frequent and unauthorised reallocations of development funds towards recurrent expenditures often without requisite approvals by county assemblies. Moreover, there was a worrying trend of under-absorption of development budgets, leading to poor service delivery and stalled growth initiatives. Human resource management across the counties was equally troubling. Counties were found to engage in rampant irregular recruitment, resulting in the proliferation of ghost workers, casual employees hired beyond statutory limits, and improper remuneration practices including overpayment of allowances. Further, the wage bill crisis persisted unabated with only 11 counties adhering to the 35 per cent wage bill ceiling as prescribed by law. Alarmingly, 16 counties were found to be spending over 50 per cent of their revenue on wages. The committee also noted with concern the matter of pending bills with counties accumulating debts totaling to Kshs181 billion. Kshs179 billion of that is owed by county executives and Kshs2 billion by county assemblies. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it should concern this House if county assemblies, which generally do not do a lot of development, still owe Kshs2 billion to service providers. Other troubling practices identified by the Committee included processing of payments outside the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) platform, irregular imprest management characterized by multiple unrecovered advances, unauthorised funding of the Council of Governors (CoG), and the prevalence of incomplete and unutilised projects. In conclusion, these findings paint a deeply concerning picture of financial governance at the county level, revealing systemic weaknesses in public financial management systems and highlighting potential instances of gross financial malfeasance."
}