Ole Lenku on the Spot over Dwindling Revenue Collections amidst Rise of Multiple Bank Accounts
Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku has been put to task by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o over declining revenue collections.
The CoB report for the first quarter of FY 2024/2024 lists Kajiado as among counties performing poorly in revenue collection despite mushrooming of more businesses in some of the satellite towns.
The County generated Kshs.143.91 million from its revenue sources, the amount having decreased by a whooping 13 per cent compared to Kshs.165.11 million realized in a similar period in FY 2023/24, which was 9 per cent of the annual target and 11 per cent of the equitable revenue share disbursed.
The highest revenue stream, Kshs.73.91 million, was from Health/ Hospital Fees/ FIF (mention the stream), contributing 52 per cent of the total OSR receipts during the reporting period.
This comes against the backdrop of reports of possible revenue diversion at source and under declaration of exactly amounts collected per day from some revenue streams.
A nominated MCA who spoke on request of anonymity said the county revenue collection is on ‘autopilot’ mode with senior officers close to the governor having total control.
“I am not surprised considering what happens at the revenue offices as well as the state of our system which is a mystery on autopilot mode,” she said
The MCA claims the governor has compromised on his governance approach top issues because he is serving his second term and not seeking reelection.
“The problem is that he is serving his second term and doesn’t care too much who steals what wand who is missing what.”
The report also indicated that the county spent Kshs.1.18 billion on development and recurrent programmes in the reporting period.
“This expenditure represented 99 per cent of the total funds released by the CoB and was entirely on recurrent programmes. Recurrent expenditures represented 13 per cent of the annual recurrent expenditure budget,”
Another critical issue bedeviling the county is the surging pending bills, with some suppliers lamenting that the county treasury is focused more on paying selected suppliers and contractors close to the governor.
The County reported pending bills amounting to Kshs.2.46 billion as of 30 June 2024, comprising pending payments by the County Executive of Kshs.2.29 billion and Kshs.166.03 million for the County Assembly. The County Executive’s pending bills consist of Kshs.758.86 million for recurrent expenditures and Kshs.1.53 billion for development expenditures.
The report also listed the county among devolved units illegally operating excess accounts with commercial banks.
Kajiado has 50 accounts with the commercial banks, of which seven were for healthcare facilities. This is contrary to Regulations 82(1)(b) of the PFM (County Governments) Regulations, 2015, which requires that County government bank accounts be opened and maintained at the Central Bank of Kenya. The only exemption is for impress bank accounts for petty cash and revenue collection bank accounts.
This comes at a time locals in Kajiado are complaining of poor health facilities and continued lack of drugs. The situation has led to mushrooming of private health facilities that do not meet the required regulatory standards.
In March this year, the Kenya Medical, Practitioners and Dentist Council (KMPDC) shut down 80 health facilities in the county over noncompliance to licensing regulations.
A total of 27 health practitioners operating at the facilities without proper licenses were also arrested in a crackdown conducted by both council officials and detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Some of the facilities closed were operating below the stipulated standards, others were either unregistered or unlicensed, while others had employed persons that were unregistered or unlicensed.
Investigations would later reveal that some of the facilities were owned by senior officers at the county with some serving in the county public health facilities.
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