International Budget Partnership Kenya (IBPKenya) has announced that only eight counties have published all the four quarterly budget implementations.
Speaking at a Nairobi hotel Wednesday, during the lunch of the County Budget Transparency Survey (CBTS2022) Report, IBPKenya lead researcher Kipkorir Biegon said that by not publishing these reports, counties missed the opportunity to communicate with the public on how their spending is reaching its intended targets.
Biegon said the Constitution of Kenya and Public Finance Management require each of the 47 counties to publish and publicize Budget documents through the budget cycle.
“Despite the progress made by counties in enhancing budget transparency, there was still a lot of information that counties are not making publicly available,” he said.
The Lead researcher said according to the CBTS2022 Report, West Pokot, Makueni and Kwale counties emerged with the most transparent budget, while Kwale County emerged as the most improved county by scoring 74points from 23points from the year 2021.
“In the CBTS 2022, the budget documents which counties had previously published in CBTS 2021, were not published, which allows counties to sustain the gains realized by consistently publishing budget documents which are previously available,” said Biegon.
International Budget Partnership County Manager Dr. Abraham Rugo said by promoting the principles of transparency and public participation anchored in the Public Finance Management Act (PFM), counties enhance on their credibility by building a community of citizens that are actively involved in budget processes and can hold their governments to account.
West Pokot County Governor Simon Kachapin said that they had good maintenance of public funds which were published timely.
“By promoting IBP, we urge citizens to participate in decision making processes in terms of budget. This will yield trust between the Government and citizens,” said Kachapin.
At the same time, he disclosed that they have steps in the county, which enhance public transparency including publishing detailed budgets in a timely manner in the county websites, capacity building programmes and equipping their staff with skills and knowledge to foster transparency.
He emphasized that they have established platforms for dialogue for citizens to contribute towards the budget survey transparency.
By Emma Jolly Wambui and Peace Muthoka
