By Kwabe Victor
Nyeri County Governor,Mutahi Kahiga receiving a certificate from IBP team.
Nyeri County has emerged the overall best county on matters budget and transparency in Kenya County Budget Transparency Survey (CBTS) 2021.The survey conducted by the International Budget Partnership.
Though the counties’ budget documents are sighted to be given limited information about the budget accounts, there has been an improvement in counties publishing the four quarterly budget implementation reports from 5 counties in 2020 to 7 counties this year.
Among some of the findings identified that seemed solemn is the fact that counties avail most budget documents to the public during formulation i.e. 35 out of 47 counties published the Annual Development Plans and County Fiscal Strategy Papers) whereas the least published budget documents are those of the implementation stage.
Through the launch, six counties were celebrated for an equally great performance in the index score for County Budget Transparency Survey, and the counties included from the top; are Nyeri, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Turkana, Samburu, and Kitui.
County heads are hereby urged to embrace publishing of documents they produce on their websites for accessibility by the public. Cited was the need for coordination from National Government levels about the way to structure the budget and have its documents well-sorted and shared.
Dr Rugo Muriu, Country Manager of the International Budget Partnership, shared the journey underwent towards having this launch come out as a success and making it possible to read out the performance of each county. Adding that the growth is quite evident though quite slow, the county governments are becoming more responsive in a quest towards improving the budget transparency levels.
Motivating the counties to uphold engagement of citizens more for the development initiatives are for the people and leaders are there to enact the execution on behalf of the people.
Ms Eunice Fedha, a representative of the Council of Governors, stated the need for the governors to be offering a state of the county address for the citizens at the regional levels. She highly recommended that there is a clear policy or framework that will entail public participation as the core.
Going ahead to share some of the initiatives taken by the council for example working with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) towards ensuring that there is transparency upheld in the dealings with people’s resources that is authentic service delivery.
Governor Kiptis Stanley of Baringo county hailed the IBP for such a great course and bold move urging his fellow leaders to take heed of what is needed and its service for the people.
Told the IBP to keep on doing the surveys and sharing the outcomes without forgetting that there are several other avenues to address not only infrastructure but also health and health institutions as well as the welfare of the people. The key issue he added is the public participation as it assists comprehend major challenges that the citizens are faced with saying, “Work with People.”
The governor of Lamu, Hon Yasin Twaha recommended the ongoing survey especially this being its launch highly applauded the operation stating that it would bring diverse improvement in how issues are dealt with both at the county and National level.
Recalling how the state of politics was when he first got into politics around 1997 that he reminisces as to having lacked public participation in the national assembly, which as compared to currently happenings it’s a journey of 1000 steps that must always commence with just a step.
Governor Kahiga, of Nyeri county that topped the county budget transparency survey called for the creation of awareness amongst the leaders about the need for transparency stating that some are not aware of the whole process.
Called on his fellow leaders to ensure they attain the mandatory changes within the counties and answering the people’s problems should be a priority as it’s the reason for representation.
For effectivity, he believes the leaders have to stop thinking about the next election and rather focus on thinking about the next generation. Also told the IBP to stay cohesive and impartial in the delivery of results and conduction of the research to allow a table of discussions as to where some of these funds end up yet the needs of the society people aren’t met.
Ms Maniza, the representative of UNICEF, advocated for the need to protect the children, emotionally, mentally, and physically as she said that the investment in children is ensuring the safety of a tomorrow.
She shared the need for counties to quicken the process of adopting transparency citing that otherwise attaining the 2030 vision for Sustainable Development Goals might be a milestone for Kenya.
Through transparency, priorities can be tabled and preferences considered before settling for decisions as to what is the most important and urgent need by the people assisting in growth.
