BONYO'S BONE: Governors and random economies

The Office of the Controller of Budget has once again sounded the alarm.

Appearing before Parliament this week, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o laid bare what can only be described as a culture of financial indiscipline in county governments.

According to Nyakang'o, many counties have developed an alarming habit. They requisition funds for specific purposes, obtain approval from her office, receive the money—and then divert it to completely different expenditures.

It is a practice she identifies as one of the major drivers of the ever-growing mountain of pending bills.

The latest verified figures put pending bills at a staggering Ksh.235.6 billion. That is Ksh.235.6 billion owed to businesses, contractors and suppliers' money that should be circulating in the economy, creating jobs, supporting livelihoods and stimulating growth. Instead, it remains trapped in government bureaucracy and questionable financial decisions.

Nyakang'o says counties continue diverting funds that had been approved specifically to settle pending bills. The result is a vicious cycle where suppliers remain unpaid even after counties have requested and received the very money intended to pay them.

Her office, she says, continues to receive countless complaints from suppliers who cannot understand why they are still waiting for payment while county governments have already been facilitated.

It is a betrayal of public trust.

Public money is not a private cheque book. Budget approvals are not suggestions to be ignored whenever political convenience demands. Every shilling appropriated by Parliament and released through due process carries with it a legal and moral obligation to be spent for its intended purpose.

Pending bills are no longer just an accounting problem. They have become one of the biggest drags on Kenya's economy.

Behind every unpaid invoice is a struggling business. Behind every struggling business are employees whose salaries are delayed, families whose livelihoods are threatened and banks burdened with non-performing loans. We have seen businesses collapse simply because they supplied goods or services to county governments and were never paid on time.

County governments cannot continue choosing which creditors to pay based on favour, politics or expediency while ignoring legitimate obligations.

Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) have a constitutional oversight responsibility. They approve budgets, monitor expenditure and hold county executives accountable. When billions are diverted from their intended purpose and pending bills continue to rise year after year, where is that oversight?

MCAs must stop behaving like political cheerleaders for county executives and start acting as custodians of taxpayers' money. They must interrogate these diversions, summon those responsible and insist on accountability. Oversight is not a ceremonial function. It is a constitutional duty.

Timely payment for goods and services is not merely an administrative exercise; it is an economic necessity. Kenya needs it now to unchoke the economy.

When suppliers are paid on time, they pay their workers. Those workers spend in local markets. Businesses restock, transporters earn, landlords collect rent and taxes continue flowing back to government. That is how an economy breathes.

When county governments withhold or divert those funds, they suffocate that cycle. They concentrate resources in a few hands while starving thousands of businesses that have already fulfilled their contractual obligations.

Dear Governors, honour the purpose for which public funds are released. Respect the principles of public finance. Pay suppliers what they are owed.

And to the MCAs, please do the job the Constitution entrusted to you.

Kenyans deserve county governments that keep their word not just during campaigns, but in the management of every taxpayer's shilling.

That is my Bone.