Elgeyo Marakwet County has bagged two major awards at the launch of findings of an independent survey which sought to establish budget transparency levels for all counties.
The awards were received on Friday, May 13, 2022, by Chief of Staff Abraham Barmaasai on behalf of Governor Alex Tolgos in a colourful ceremony held in Nairobi.
The survey conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) for 2020/21 Financial Year researched on the availability and comprehensiveness of key budget policy documents identified as important for development stakeholders in their participation in decision-making processes and oversight responsibilities at the counties.
The 11 budget documents surveyed using each county government’s official websites as a reference point included; the 2018-22 County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), Annual Development Plan (ADP), County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP), County Budget Review and Outlook Paper (CBROP) and the County Finance Act.
Other documents were the four Quarterly County Budget Implementation Reports, Approved Budget (Programme Based) and the simplified version of the approved budget (Mwananchi version).
Budget transparency is one of the key measures of good governance amongst governments globally and Elgeyo Marakwet County has continued to put in place mechanisms to ensure this practice is entrenched in its governance decisions and practices.
At the survey findings launch ceremony held on Friday 13th May, 2022, Elgeyo Marakwet emerged as the 2nd runners-up on the overall availability and comprehensive category while at the comprehensiveness category for each budget policy document, EMC was feted for having the most comprehensive Finance Act amongst counties.
Being the only county to be feted with two awards at the ceremony is a testament to the commitment Elgeyo Marakwet has put in ensuring the participation of all citizens in its decision making processes in not only the budget making and implementation processes but also in other governace areas.
In the FYs preceding the latest released budget transparency findings, also conducted by IBP, EMC had held firm to the first position for two consecutive years
