Dear Stephen Masha,
This is an open letter to you and your office as the acting Controller of Budget in Kenya.
As a concerned regular user of the reports generated by your office, I’m writing to let you have a glimpse of what it is like to read your reports.
Consider this as a feedback session and take it positively (no harm intended). I know you’re currently busy working on the Annual budget implementation reports for financial year 2018/2019, therefore, I’ll hit the nail on the head.
I demand that you include the list of projects implemented during the entire financial year by each of the 47 counties as well as the national government of Kenya.
This is my favorite part and I’m sure there are many people out there who need this information.
Finally, I was disappointed when I read reports from your office covering the first 9 months of FY 2018/2019. For instance, after showing us how Kisumu County absorbed her development budget, your esteemed office went a head and said the following in the concluding paragraph on page 130:
Analysis of expenditure by department shows that the Department of Finance recorded the highest absorption
rate of development budget at 83.5 per cent while the County Assembly, and the Department of Water,
Environment and Natural Resources did not incur any development expenditure. The Department of Agriculture,
Livestock & Fisheries had the highest percentage of recurrent expenditure to its recurrent budget at 90.4 per
cent while the Department of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning had the lowest at 25.6 per cent.
This whetted my appetite but left me hanging considering that I would not tell which development projects in Kisumu County were implemented during the first 9 months.
I promise that if you include the list and details of various development projects, my fiends in Kisumu will assist you in verifying their accuracy and whether there was value for money.
PS: We look forward to reading the annual budget implementation report for 2018/2019. Please, remember to include a detailed narrative and list on new, ongoing and completed projects. These are our favorites.
Yours truly,
G.K.
Writing from Kisumu Dala.
