A lobby group has flagged use of manual payroll by Kisumu County which it claims has exposed public funds to the risk of abuse.
Kisumu Accountability Forum (KAF) in its latest report shows that the Sh69.6 million paid through the manual payroll system in the 2022-2023 financial year expenditures could not be accounted for.
According to the report personal emoluments amounting to millions of shillings were being paid through the manual payroll which is subject to manipulation.
KAF representative James Ochieng’ said the expenditure was against government regulations which require the payments to be done through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD) system.
Speaking during a meeting called to discuss the state of budget implementation in the county, Ochieng’ said Kisumu had one of the highest wage bills in the Nyanza region leaving very little money for development.
“Based on our findings Kisumu County has performed poorly especially on the wage bill where it spent more than three quarters thus ranking second last across the members of the Lake Region Economic Block (LREB),” he said.
The findings of three quarters of the financial year 2022/23 for the Budget Implementation Review Report (BIRR), he said show that Kisumu County spent Sh0.52 billion on operations and maintenance out of the total spending budget of Sh4.74 billion translating to a proportion of 11.1, approximately Sh11 out of every Sh100.
To enhance accountability and transparency, he said the lobby group was mounting pressure on the County Treasury to stop expenditures outside the Integrated Finance Management System (IFMIS) to ensure resources allocated to the devolved unit are properly utilized.
He asked the county government to scale up revenue collection to help meet the budget deficit and roll out development projects.
The county, he added, must train revenue collectors in order to meet the set targets.
He added that priority must be given to pending bills on a first in first out basis adding that new projects should start in the first quarter of the financial year with a complete adherence to all procurement regulations and related laws.
Ochieng’ further asked Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) to take their oversight role seriously and conduct an audit of all stalled projects in the area.
The assembly, he added, must ensure that money is properly appropriated in accordance with the law.
