Budget boss orders counties to recover illegal allowances

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo has directed counties to recover any allowances that were irregularly paid out between July and December 2014, setting up governors for another showdown with members of county assemblies (MCAs).

Ms Odhiambo has ordered counties that either breached guidelines set by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) or internal budget limits, to immediately recover the money or prepare for sanctions.

The directive follows the budget controller’s recent review of the administration of sitting and commuter allowances that has unearthed extensive abuse.

“The findings show that some officers are paid monthly commuter allowances despite having been assigned official vehicles,” Ms Odhiambo says in the report that also requires counties to adhere to SRC circulars on staff remunerations and benefits.

While the directive affects county executives as well as the MCAs, it is the latter who have frequently used their legislative and impeachment powers to defend their perks.

Half-year report compiled by Office of the Controller of Budget (OCOB) indicates that 12 counties exceeded the Sh124,000-a-month limit set by SRC as sitting allowances for each MCA.

The OCOB report shows that Uasin Gishu, headed by Governor Jackson Mandago, tops the list of reckless spenders, having paid its MCAs average sitting allowances of Sh312, 339 each in the first half of the current fiscal year.

Kakamega (Sh134,700), Kirinyaga (Sh141,894), Kisii (Sh148,699), Migori (Sh185,792), Nyandarua (Sh138,975) and Nyeri (Sh146,389) also breached the set limit.

READ: Greedy MCAs rob counties of billions in sitting allowances

Others were Siaya (Sh142, 995), Taita Taveta (Sh124, 598), Trans Nzoia (Sh178,168), Turkana (Sh143,722) and Wajir (Sh126,958).

The report also shows that Turkana county assembly spent Sh41.39 million on sitting allowances, exceeding its annual budget allocation of Sh10 million by 413.9 per cent.

The counties spent Sh3.72 billion on foreign and domestic travel in a spending spree that also benefited staff already allocated county government vehicles.

The directive to recover money already paid out to the MCAs is particularly expected to rekindle the animosity with governors.

Corruption and differences over travel and sitting allowances have been cited among the factors that led to a string of impeachment motions against governors during the first months in office. Similarly, poor counties lead the pack of heavy spenders in domestic and foreign travels.

Turkana, which is among Kenya’s poorest regions, for instance spent Sh241.9 million on this budget-line followed by Tana River’s Sh183.94 million.

The report shows that Wajir had already spent 87.5 per cent of its travel budget of Sh120 million by first half of the fiscal year.

The reports shows that Nakuru County, headed by Governor Kinuthia Mbugua and Murang’a under Mwangi wa Iria, had already exceeded their annual travel budgets by 104.6 per cent and 135 per cent respectively in the first six months of the year.

“This implies that funds meant for other activities were diverted to pay expenditure on travel,” the report says.

The 47 counties had prepared a budget of Sh8.52 billion for domestic and foreign travels. By end of December, MCAs had spent Sh1.65 billion while county executives had taken Sh2 billion.