Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang’o is seeking Sh20 million that she says will help her deal with the gaps in the law that hinder her office from executing its mandate effectively and now wants parliament to step in with legislative interventions.
Dr Nyakang’o pushed for the enhanced funding noting that the inadequate funding has impeded the efforts to amend the CoB Act and review its attendant draft regulations to give her office the “teeth” it requires.
In a paper to the National Assembly, the CoB notes that the proposed amendments and the reviewed regulations require the Sh20 million to undertake public participation on the proposed changes.
“Due to the lack of resources, monitoring and evaluation cannot be undertaken entirely,” revealed Dr Nyakang’o.
Dr Nyakang’o specifically singled out sections 4, 8, 9 of the Controller of Budget Act that she wants amended to effectively align the Act with the previous court judgments and the best practices in the management of public funds.
Dr Nyakang’o noted that section 4 (1) of the CoB Act fails to recognize that a vacancy may arise in the Office of the Controller of Budget (OCoB) when the Controller of Budget leaves office after the lapse of the prescribed eight years.
The High Court has previously recommended that the lacuna which arose in a previous matter before the court be amended.
The CoB wants section 9 (4) of the Act reviewed to allow the Controller of Budget to report on all facets of the budget implementation as provided for in the constitution.
“Under the existing provisions, the Controller of Budget is barred from reporting on economic developments and outlook including revenue, grants, loan forecasts and receipts,” says.
Also proposed for amendment is section 8 of the CoB Act that does not comprehensively indicate all the planning and budgetary documents that ought to be submitted to the CoB to enable it to “effectively oversee the implementation of the national and county government budget.”
“A provision that prohibits the voiding of payments after the approval for withdrawal of funds is issued by the CoB be included,” notes Dr Nyakang’o.
To this end, she says, responsibility should be placed on an accounting officer who should ensure that the funds authorized for withdrawal by the CoB are aligned with the schedule of payments supporting the requests.
“This will ensure that payments mirror the approval, thus avoiding pending bills and misdirection of funds,” notes the CoB.
The CoB has also developed draft regulations for approval by parliament but due to budgetary constraints, public participation, a legal requirement under the Statutory Instruments Act of 2013, is yet to be undertaken on them.
The draft regulations come after the Senate annulled the 2021 regulations despite being approved by the Delegated Legislation Committee of the National Assembly on January 27, 2022.
“The reasons advanced by the Senate for annulment were that the regulations had not fully captured the comments of the National Treasury received after publication of the regulations and that the penalties proposed in the regulations were not deterrent.”
According to the CoB, the annulled regulations had not addressed the pending bills challenges and the investigative powers of other government agencies like the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
“The issues raised by the Senate cannot be addressed and legislated upon in regulations. The CoB Act needs to be amended to address those concerns and other identified gaps that impeded the effective execution of the CoB’s functions.”
Dr Nyakang’o has also decried the lack of clear timelines to adopt the report of the CoB by the National Assembly which she says has hampered her office in the discharge of its mandate.
“This so because her office is not in a position to track the implementation of the recommendations.”
Article 228 (6) of the constitution and section 9 of the CoB Act require the CoB to submit a report on budget implementation to parliament every four months.
Section 68 (4) of the Public Finance Management Act provides that the National Assembly shall adopt the report by the CoB.
After that, the relevant accounting officers shall prepare a report to the National Assembly with a copy of the CoB on the measures taken to implement the CoB’s recommendations.
This means that the recommendations of the CoB only become binding upon adoption by the National Assembly.