The government’s terming of the recent breakdown of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) as “teething problems” is worrying, especially coming more than two years after it was officially launched.
Efforts by ICT Secretary Joe Mucheru to downplay the hitch, which has affected operations in all 47 counties, by saying it was only down for two days are hardly reassuring given that it is one of the key tools meant to safeguard public funds against misappropriation.
It also raises questions over the actual level of the software’s vulnerability since this is not the first time activities at the devolved units have been grounded over its failure.
Last year, counties resorted to bank overdrafts and other sources of revenue to keep things going, making it hard to track or account for these funds.
The State should ensure that its main digital financial system is working not just so county workers are paid on time, but also so that taxpayers know the use of public funds is constantly accounted for.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
