County Finance Nominee Neutralizes Vetting Committee By Apt Responses

My Challenges are not failures; Devolution is a very young phenomenon compared to other democracies in the world but it is work in progress that is improving with time, asserted Asha Abdi.

By Adieri Mulaa

Cosmetic procurement plans in county governments is a major problem leading to the multi-billion pending bills and perpetual financial constraints.

Ms Asha Abdi, a nominee to the position of Chief Finance Officer in Nairobi City County told a House

sectoral committee that quite often, procurement officers prepare cosmetic plans to procure goods and services outside of the approved plans.

At the same time, she said the drastic shifting of services to the dry ports of Nairobi and Naivasha that was occasioned by the Standard Guage Railway (SGR) greatly affected own source revenue in Mombasa county.

Shooting straight from the hip, Asha neutralized the Budget, Finance and Appropriations Committee in her candid responses to defuse media allegations on her performance in Mombasa county, where she served in the same capacity.

“I come to Nairobi knowing that one of the major challenges I may have to face head-on is management of the County pending bills which stand at a whopping Kshs. 99 billion”, she told the Committee chaired by Mabatini MCA Wilfred Odalo.

On the pending bills, she told the Committee that a multi-solution approach was needed to deal with the issue. The first step, she said, would be to establish whether the bills were audited by internal and external audit teams.

Asha first served as a Member of the County Executive Committee in Isiolo county at the introduction of devolved government before being appointed a Chief Finance Officer in Mombasa county.

“The challenges I have faced are not failures. Devolution is a very young phenomenon compared to other democracies in the world but it is work in progress that is improving with time”, she asserted.

The Committee heard that in Isiolo, she inherited pending bills from the defunct municipality and started off by setting up systems and structures of a new county government to get going.

“I am not coming to Nairobi by chance. Rather, I have 10 years experience, having served in a rural county and in the second largest city in Kenya”.

Asha promised to prioritize all challenges MCAs have been faced in the past regarding the Ward Development Fund programmes, by availing funds and ensuring implementation of the projects.

The nominee noted that debt resolution would not be achieved if county governments only relied on the exchequer to settle the pending bills.

She pointed out that counties inherited bloated wage bills and pending bills of former municipalities which continue to rise as they restructure their services including human resource management.

Citing a long term approach, Asha said she would pursue a pending conversation that is already before the Senate and the Commission on Revenue Allocation, regarding proposed special financing of cities.

“A Bill was prepared to ensure city counties get a special allocation of five billion shillings to support them annually”, she said.