The office of the Auditor-General has commenced discussions with County Assemblies with a view to empower them to play their oversight role effectively.
AG Nancy Gathungu said County Assemblies, by virtue of comprising elected members at the grassroots, are well poised to ensure prudent usage and management of public resources in every corner of the country.
She said Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) know the projects they have approved, the budgets they have appropriated and also what is happening on the ground with regard to implementation.
“We want to agree on how they can be the first ones on the ground to discuss the reports and ensure they give recommendations that the executive and other entities must implement to ensure there is continuous service delivery,” she said.
Speaking on Tuesday in Embu after a meeting with the County Assembly leadership, Ms. Gathungu said their focus is to see County Assemblies play their oversight role more strongly.
She posited that the Senate should concentrate more on higher matters of policy and legislative issues concerning devolution.
“We would wish to have operational issues be handled at the County Assembly Level because they are also required by the constitution to play their oversight role,” she said.
At the same time, the AG said they have noted several issues concerning effective use of public resources across the counties occasioned by what counties have said was as a result of huge inherited pending bills.
Counties have argued that they are concentrating more on paying pending bills at the expense of development projects.
“We have agreed with counties that if possible, they handle these arrears concurrently with development projects,” she said.
She also advised counties to cut back on too many projects both at the national and county level so that ongoing projects can be completed before conceiving and implementing new ones.
Meanwhile, Ms. Gathungu said they are also pushing for transition to accrual accounting which is more transparent especially in accounting for pending bills.
She said they had informed their teams at their regional offices to ensure when they are auditing for 2024/25 financial year, to look at how well prepared are the public sector entities to transition to accrual accounting.
Accrual accounting is a financial accounting method that allows companies to record revenue before receiving payment for goods or services sold.
By Samuel Waititu
