KISUMU NGOs ASK FOR TRANSPARENCY AS KSH. 11.4 BILLION BUDGET FUNDS CANNOT BE ACCOUNTED FOR

 

National Democratic Institute (NDI), a consortium of Non- governmental organizations in Kisumu, held a meeting to examine and review the audit report of Financial Years (FY) 2018/19 and 2019/20 recently released by the auditor general.As indicated in the audit report, Kisumu County cannot account for Sh. 7.1 billion and Sh4.3 billion for FY 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively.

 

NDI attributed the amount lost to mismanagement of funds as there is a lack of supporting documents for items purchased and projects done in the county. Speaking to Sky FM at Sarova Imperial Hotel in Kisumu, Mr. Martin Opondo, Chairman of the Youth Alive Group organization, faulted Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) for the lack of accountability saying that they did not do their oversight role to the executive properly.

 

“MCAs have not been doing the oversight role to the county executive well, they should know that the campaign period is over and it is now time to deliver services to the citizens, they should do this without fear and favoritism,” he said.

 

Mr. Job Ochieng’, a member of the Tilapia Youth group organization, called upon the county government to empower the internal auditors by offering training services and taking into consideration what they say during the expenditure process for transparency purposes.

 

Also present at the meeting, Mrs. Emelda Miyere from Youth Lead Africa Group organization said that the funds that cannot be accounted for would have been used in other sectors facing challenges of inadequate finances.

 

The non-governmental organizations, urged the youths to come out during the implementation process of the budget as this will help them demand accountability for the funds as per what they are allocated for.