Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top

County News

Governors Oparanya, Muriithi ranked top in revenue accountability index

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya (right) and Laikipia’s Ndiritu Muriithi (left) were rated best performing county chiefs in a study published by the Consortium of Researchers on Governance (CoRG) on Monday/FILE – Kakamega County Press/CoG

NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 23 – Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has been ranked the best performing county chief in the latest research on County Revenue and Accountability Survey with a revenue growth of 100.6 per cent.

According to the findings released on Monday by the Consortium of Researchers on Governance (CoRG), Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi follows second at 94.9 per cent with Tharaka Nithi’s Muthomi Njuki and Makueni’s Kivutha Kibwana coming in third and fourth place at 84.7 per cent and 53.1 per cent respectively.

According to the group’s data analyst Charles Mc’Olonde, the “self-funded” research was premised on an assessment of county own source revenue performance and the devolved units’ accountability in management of public finance.

“We considered own source revenue that counties managed to raise in the last financial year and did a comparison of what they have since managed to raise this year,” said Mc’Olonde.

The research which was conducted between July 5 and September 9, 2019 was collected from among other sources county governments’ budget implementation review reports, the Office of the Controller of Budge and a summary of the report from the Auditor General for the Financial Year 2017/2018.

Others include recommendations based on equitable sharing of revenue between the two levels of government, Commission on Revenue Allocation and the 2019 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Surprisingly, Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu who has since been indicted over corruption charges was placed at number 11 with Mc’Olonde attributing this to documented records from the Auditor General’s office who in his audited reports for the 2017/2018 Financial Year gave the county a qualified opinion.

The report despite noting that financial statements have not been maintained in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles, identified no misrepresentations.

Kiambu’s own source revenue was placed at 57.7 per cent.

The report’s findings depict a sharp contrast from the one released last week by the United Kingdom-based firm, All Africa Advisors (AAA) that graded Waititu as the worst performing governor.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Also negatively listed were Governors Mohamed Abdi (Wajir), Fahim Twaha (Lamu) and Cyprian Awiti (Homa Bay).

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua who coincidentally was ranked as the best performing county chief in last week’s findings, is positioned at number 43 with an own revenue collection of -16.7 per cent in the study released Monday.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who also featured in the London-based firm findings as the best performing leader was quite the reverse ranked 44 with a staggering own revenue allocation of 7.9 per cent.

While affirming the authenticity of the findings, Mc’Olonde attributed the dismal performance by Governor Sonko on the Auditor General report during the last financial year that gave Nairobi County a disclaimer opinion.

The county’s financial status could not be determined due to the absence of appropriate financial records.

According to the survey, the most improved Governors were Joseph Ole Lenku (Kajiado), John Nyagrama (Nyamira) and Martin Wambora (Embu).

About The Author

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News