This archive report was first published on 3 December 2019.
On December 1, 2019, the National Treasury requested Parliament to stop transferring funds to 15 counties that had failed to clear their pending bills. The request was made by acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani, who argued that the counties had contravened the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act by failing to make any efforts to clear eligible pending bills.
However, the Budget and Appropriations Committee declined the request after a session with the Parliamentary Budget Office Director Phyllis Makau. The committee cited various technicalities in law as raised by Ms Makau, including the absence of a substantive Controller of Budget (CoB) report.
According to Article 225 (7) of the Constitution, Parliament may not approve or renew a decision to stop the transfer of funds unless the CoB has presented a report on the matter to Parliament. The affected entity, in this case, the 15 counties, must be given an opportunity to answer the allegations against them and to state their case before the relevant parliamentary committee.
The counties in question are Narok, Machakos, Nairobi, Vihiga, Isiolo, Tana River, Migori, Tharaka-Nithi, Bomet, Kirinyaga, Nandi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Garissa, and Baringo.
