[INDENT]The Controller of Budget (CoB) plans to escalate the fight with the Central Bank of Kenya for real-time access to county accounts to the new Senate after it is sworn in, highlighting the deteriorating relations between the two key institutions at the centre of public finance management.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]Currently, the CoB does not have real-time access to the accounts, a loophole that counties continue to use in making discriminatory payments to contractors besides lodging fictitious claims.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]Additionally, the counties have been accused of taking advantage of this loophole to strike private arrangements with banks for loans that have accumulated interest and added to their financial woes.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]“Central Bank has refused. They have told us that they will never give us access. They told us that we need to get a court order for them to grant us access,” Ms Nyakango said.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]Pending bills by the counties stood at Sh139.54 billion as at March as businesses and contractors who are yet to get paid close shop while others continue to struggle. Some of the unpaid bills stretch back to the start of devolution in 2013.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]The CoB published the Controller of Budget Regulations, 2021 that [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]if approved by the newly elected Senators will for the first time allow monitoring of cash outflows from the accounts of counties.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]The Senate of the [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]12th Parliament rejected the regulations, but the CoB says they will resubmit them once the new house is sworn in.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]The CoB published the Controller of Budget Regulations, 2021 that if approved by the newly elected Senators will for the first time allow monitoring of cash outflows from the accounts of counties.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]The Senate of the 12th Parliament rejected the regulations, but the CoB says they will resubmit them once the new house is sworn in.[/INDENT]
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[INDENT]The CoB has also flagged some of the counties for [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]lodging fictitious claims in the requisitions where rogue staff collude with businesses to rip off the public at the expense of contractors who have supplied goods or undertaken works.[/INDENT]