Elgeyo Marakwet County recorded a 31.2% increase in Own Source Revenue (OSR) from Sh116.5 million in the first nine months of the 2021–2022 financial year to Sh152.9 million out of the Sh264.2 million it had targeted to raise in the 2022–2023 financial year.
According to the county government Budget Implementation Review Report (BIRR), the Facility Improvement Fund (FIF) under the health sector was the largest contributor to OSR raising Sh110.5 million, which accounted for 72% of the total revenue.
The county also managed to clear all of its pending bills, which totaled Sh14.3 million, comprising Sh5.79 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh8.54 million for development.
However, the report says development expenditure decreased by 13.6% from Sh544.4 million in the same period in 2021/22 to Sh462.9 million in the first nine months of the 2022/2023 financial year.
The report continued that out of the Sh3 billion received, the absorption of development funds stood at 20.4%, while that of recurrent expenditure was 63.7%, with the county spending Sh2.54 billion on recurrent expenditure and Sh462.9 million on development.
Expenditure on domestic travel consumed Sh120 million, with the assembly spending Sh44 million while the executive spent Sh768 million.
It further says expenditure on personal emoluments decreased from Sh1.93 billion in the 2021/22 financial year to Sh1.85 billion in the period under review.
The report, however, expressed concern that Sh201.9 million was paid to personnel through manual payroll, which was attributed to a delay in the allocation of unified payroll numbers and staff designations that did not conform to the scheme of service.
It further says some staff were employed on short-term contracts of less than six months, thereby limiting their inclusion in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD), a concern that the controller of budget called on the county to address.
According to the report, while the county established an emergency fund under the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, it did not allocate any funds for the same.
However, the county allocated Sh149.3 million to other funds established by the county, which include the Car and Mortgage Revolving Fund under the County Assembly, which got Sh94 million, and the County Education Fund, which received Sh55.2 million.
By Alice Wanjiru
