Earlier this week, when the Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o appeared before the Senate Finance and Budget Committee, she raised an alarm that the operations of her office going into the financial year 2025/ 2026 are in dire straits courtesy of a massive reduction of Ksh.850 million funding need within the office’s budget.
Out of a total of Ksh.1.63 billion she had budgeted for and requested, the CoB office would only be allocated Ksh.777.5 million, even as she cited that Ksh.579.3M had underfunded nine areas of great importance.
However, she remains hopeful that her office might get by to the end of the upcoming financial year leaning on the prospects of a second supplementary budget.
Dr Nyakango has however denounced the deliberate underfunding of her office saying it has been allocated less than 50% of the funds needed for the upcoming financial year.
She went further to ask for help from the Senate to unlock sufficient funding saying they are akin to a stalled vehicle without money.
Further, Dr Nyakang’o informed the Senators that it is of great concern that government officers are accustomed to bypassing an automated audit system put in place to ensure accountability in the spending of taxpayers’ money.
This has seen ministries, departments and agencies continue to make requisitions outside of the system and only use the system when it suits them.
Senators Boni Khalwale and Richard Onyonka promised they would push for more funding for her office.
In October 2024, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, while at a consultative meeting with Governors in Naivasha, unleashed a blistering attack on the Controller of Budget (CoB) office, accusing officers therein of rent-seeking and hampering the operations of county governments.
Mbadi criticised the requirement that compels county finance officials to travel from all corners of the country to get funds cleared, a fact, he argued could be remotely handled.
Mbadi was categorical that the CoB remained the stumbling block towards the expeditious release of county funds after the Treasury allocates them funds.
In the interest of the public, the Treasury would be best placed to come up with more efficient mechanisms, even if through a bill in Parliament, to streamline such bottlenecks.
Meanwhile, Dr Nyakango has not had it smooth since the Kenya Kwanza administration checked into office. In December 2023, Nyakang’o was taken to court to face charges in connection to a complaint made against her and 10 other people in 2016 before she became CoB.
She was charged with conspiracy to defraud contrary to Section 317 of the Penal Code, operating a Sacco without a license Contrary to Section 24 as read with Section 66 of the Sacco Societies Act, 2008, forgery and uttering a false document.
Dr Nyakang’o was released on Ksh.2 million bond with a surety or Ksh.500,000 cash bail after she denied the charges.
She came into office in June 2020 and her security of tenure runs for eight years. She is an independent officeholder protected under the Constitution and therefore cannot be removed from office arbitrarily.
However, what took the public by surprise was the show of solidarity when unlikely bed-fellows, the Majority and Minority leaders in Parliament, now joined at the hip through the broad-based government, went for Nyakango’s jugular accusing her of “corruption.”
Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah came out guns blazing. “The office of the CoB needs to style up. Ask any Governor, many will tell you that without parting with money or paying bribes to officers in that office, Governors do not get justice. Governors are suffering because of inefficiencies and corruption in the office of the CoB. They have to bribe officers in that office to have their expenditures approved,” he claimed.
Minority Leader Junet Mohamed, picking the cue from his broad-based counterpart, said; “Governors are saying everywhere that they have to pay to get their money approved.”
Ichung’wa and Junet accused the top audit office of making public their findings before getting the nod from Parliament.
Ichung’wah was of the opinion that the Auditor General reports to Parliament and must therefore be held responsible for audit reports pointed fingers at public officers for culpability tabled before Parliament.
If corruption is indeed present in the office of the Controller of Budget, as indeed it might be; it is sad that national and constitutional officeholders are tussling and bickering in public while matters of great importance such as the loss of colossal amounts of public money remain unresolved.
The political class and top public administrators claim to feel more threatened than being held to account by the office of the Controller of Budget.
The office of the Controller of Budget and the Auditor General among others, have been set up constitutionally in the public interest, to reassure the citizens of this nation that their taxes are being put to good use.
Last week, after the Controller of Budget and the Auditor General released their reports detailing the irregularities and non-conformance to procedures and the rule of law, in the procurement and expenditures within public offices, it created an uproar, indeed many wondered at the audacity and callousness of public officials in misappropriating public resources.
What perplexes the public most, is that parliament receives such reports each year and never acts on them despite pointing out laxity, waste and criminality in the conduct of complicit public officers.
The Controller of Budget, Dr Margaret Nyakang’o, is no stranger to high-octane conflict. She comes across as calm maybe even a bit laid back, she does not babble and she does not look excitable.
She, in being lady-like might seem like one who would bolt at the first barking of dogs but underneath she has proven, she might be made of steel.
The office she holds, is the envy of many but how many would survive unscathed for over six years swimming among sharks?
Dr Nyakang’o has not been declared a saint and she remains a mortal being but hers has been a stellar performance amid a hostile environment.
She might seem like she likes rubbing national and county public officials the wrong way for asking far too many relevant questions and writing damning reports on their operations but the fact is, that is her job!
Underfunded and working in a thankless environment she has managed to do her work year in and year out to the ire of many public or state offices.
As for Parliament, Kenyans are asking how many more reports will you receive from CoB and the national audit office before you hold the culprits to account.
By Vincent Obadha
