Blame-games after Nakuru County fails to disburse Sh27.5M Nakuru PWDs fund

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika. [File, Standard]

Blame games have begun within the Nakuru County Government after Sh27.5 million in Persons with Disabilities (PWD) funds were not disbursed in the financial year 2025/2026.

In the 2026/2027 financial year, the PWDs have not been included in the budget, with questions lingering as to where their money is.

The PWDs have issued a five-day demonstration notice, petitioned the County Assembly and written to the county government executive seeking an explanation.

The Department of Sports, Gender, and Inclusivity, responsible for PWDs, has shockingly shifted blame to the finance department following the non-disbursement of Sh27.5 million.

In a report by the CECM, Elga Riaga, on September 8, the department admitted that the funds were not disbursed to the PWDs but insisted that its office played its role in ensuring the funds were disbursed.

According to Riaga, all processes that had halted the operationalisation of the fund in the financial year 2025/2026 and in prior financial years were undertaken and concluded in earnest.

“The PWD funds use has not been rolled out, and the same has been communicated to the County Assembly, and the report made public,” wrote Riaga.

According to Riaga, her department did its part, including overseeing the appointment and gazettement of the PWD committee members.

Further, the department insisted that it had also fast-tracked the gazettement and publication of the Nakuru PWD regulations, which had been delayed despite being submitted to the Government Printers on time.

“Payment voucher was attached, and we have been informed that the hard copies of the Nakuru PWDs Regulations 2026 and Gazettement of PWDs committee are finalised and due for collection,” she reported.

She insisted that her office had requested that funds be transferred to the PWDs' functional account at Family Bank, but the request was not implemented.

Internal Memo, she said, was completed, and the Accounting Officer authorised the fund transfer, as no communication had been received from the Controller of Budget in the form of an audit query.

“The department also prepared an economic empowerment items list as per the request of the beneficiaries from all the 55 wards within Nakuru County,” she added.

According to Riaga, however, the funds had yet to be transferred or utilised as planned for the financial year 2025/2026.

“The reason for the delay in the utilisation has been caused by the failure to transfer the funds as requested by the Chief Officer in my department,” she wrote.

Asked whether the PWD funds have been met.

Ironically, the department is also seeking an explanation from the Finance Office as to why the funds were not transferred to the PWD account for the intended purpose.

“As indicated in the explanation, the department awaits correspondence from the relevant body concerned with funds transfer,” she stated.

The department, however, insisted that, in the financial year 2026/2027, PWD funds were programmed to be included in the supplementary budget in February 2027, which explained their omission from the current budget.

The department also wrote to its accounting officer, seeking the correspondence between its office and the office of the Chief Officer Finance.

“We also sought a response to the internal memo of April 23, 2026, from my chief officer, regarding transfer of the PWD fund to the functional account,” she said.

Further, the department also requested correspondence from the Controller of Budget (COB) on the reasons for declining to transfer the funds, the reasons for excluding the PWD fund from the 2026/2027 budget and the remedy for the same.

In the Memo, the department stated that it had an amount of Sh27.5 million in the approved budget for disability mainstreaming and requested that the funds be transferred to the Nakuru PWDs fund account.