Kenyan Governors asked to account for cash given before asking for more

State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu during the weekly media briefing at the Kisumu State Lodge.PHOTO: COURTESY

Governors have been told to account for development money given to them before asking for more.

State House Spokesperson and Head of the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit (PSCU) Manoah Esipisu told the governors to show the projects undertaken for the past four financial years they have been in office.

"It defies economic sense to ask for more money to be disbursed yet even the little given, you are not able to account for," Mr Esipisu said.

While the Government recognised the essence of devolution was to take more resources to the grassroots, it expressed dissatisfaction with the way the governors were spending the money.

"Opposition leaders should, instead of blaming the State for not allocating more monies to the counties, ask what the governors have done with the much they have received," Esipisu said.

Governors have been pushing for allocation of more resources to the counties.

Most governors are currently being investigated by Parliament over alleged misuse of money running into billions of shillings.

The Opposition leaders have been supporting the governors' call for more money, claiming the national government had denied them funds ostensibly to frustrate development projects, a claim the State has denied.

"We have even doubled the initial allocation from 15 per cent above the Constitution's threshold to about 33 per cent. Yet even with this increase, there is nothing substantive to see," Esipisu said.