Senate to Review Kakamega County Fiscal Performance- Gov Barasa

By Wakhungu Andaje

Kakamega governor has called on the senate to review the indicators of the county fiscal performance measurement index as they have erroneously ranked him a none performer.

Barasa who is the chair of the council of governors' finance committee questioned the methodology used by the senate to rank counties on fiscal performance, saying the parameters do not provide an accurate reflection of the performance of county governments.

Speaking during a Sunday service at Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Emuyundi parish in Butere constituency, Barasa said the county fiscal performance measurement index contains parameters that require review to ensure that the assessment of county governments is fair, objective and reflective of the realities on the ground.

Governor Barasa said county governments operate under different circumstances and face unique socio-economic and fiscal challenges, which should be taken into consideration when assessing their performance.

He said governors should be evaluated using parameters that comprehensively capture the work being undertaken by county governments in delivering essential services, implementing development programmes and responding to the needs of their residents.

Governor Fernandez Barasa joins other faithfuls at Emuyundi ACK church in Butere where he rubbished the Senate report ranking the county as among the poor performing within the country .

The finance chair said the council of governors remains committed to constructive engagement with the Senate and other national institutions to strengthen the framework for measuring county fiscal performance and ensure that such assessments provide an accurate and balanced picture of devolution. 

He said the recent senate report ranking Kakamega as among the poor performing counties was in bad faith and meant to tarnish his name ahead of the coming 2027 election where he is seeking a second term in office.

“I want to disagree with the released Senate report concerning Kakamega performance as there is no way you can a governor accountable because of county expenditure and also because the governor has not paid a contractor monies for the completed projects and even if our on-source revenue being down does not make me the governor a nonperformer and Kakamega is a unique county where all the patients receiving treatment at the hospitals all demand for waivers”, he said.

He said he was totally disagreeing with the performance index as absorption is not the best measurement of index since Kakamega has multiple completed multimillion projects which are yet to be paid but were not included in the report.

Also he cited that the county assembly business and expenditure could not be controlled as the speaker and his team manages their own finances with Mca’s travelling abroad to benchmark on county matters.