Garissa Governor on the spot over failure to appoint Chief Officers

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama has been put on the spot by the Senate following his failure to appoint chief officers in a move that has affected the accounting of the devolved unit's expenditure of public funds.

A Senate committee is now probing why Nathif has been leading the county government without chief officers since 2022.

The senators' concern emanates from the fact that chief officers are the principal accounting officers of every docket in the county and the ones designated to spend (Authority to Incur Expenditure holders) funds disbursed to the county.

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o told the Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee that the devolved unit sent her a list of 12 officers designated as AIE holders.

Despite this, the communication designating the officers was dated May 24 – when the committee had already instigated the probe.

"According to this letter, it is dated May 24, 2024. This appeared to have been done after the governor appeared before this committee. Or did you receive this letter earlier than that, or is it a way of covering up?" committee chairman and Wajir Senator Abbas Mohamed posed.

Garissa Senator Abdul Haji had inquired from Nyakang'o if indeed she had been accorded with the names of the chief officers.

According to Bungoma Senator Wafula Wakoli, the Garissa governor did this hurriedly a few days ago.

Garissa Senator Abdul Haji during the Garissa Governor Nathif Jama's grilling session. (Photo: GPS)

When Jama appeared before the committee two weeks ago, he indicated that his cabinet had decided to allow the Finance and Economic Planning CEC to appoint existing officials as accounting officers.

"These officials are critical in ensuring that public resources are aptly utilised and accounted for in line with the Public Finance Management Act, 2012," the senator said.

"Thus, lack of chief officers has not impeded our operations as a county government given that there are designated accounting officers in line with the law."

Despite calls to have him appoint chief officers from the Senate and elected leaders from the county, Jama still failed to pick chief officers following recommendations of the state Department of Public Service whose audit unearthed gross violations in the management of county human resources.

Nyakang'o also revealed that the county has not utilised its budget effectively for the current financial year.

Garissa Executive spent Sh4.5 billion in the first nine months out of a total budget of Sh10.7 billion for the year. The expenditure translates to an absorption rate of 42.5 per cent.

It has been found out that the county has also failed or delayed submitting financial documents to the Controller of Budget, thus interfering with the timely preparation of the budget implementation report. The challenges are associated with the lack of AIE holders.

Nyakang'o told the committee that in the financial year 2022-23, the expenditure on employee compensation was Sh4.77 billion or 51.6 per cent of the revenue for the financial year 2022-23 of Sh9.24 billion, which was above the limit of 35 per cent provided in law.

COB recommends that the County Treasury should ensure timely preparation and submission of financial reports to the Office of the Controller of Budget, in line with the timelines prescribed in Section 166 of the PFM Act, 2012.