By Dominic Gitau
West Pokot and Laikipia Counties have the most transparent budgets at 73 percent and 71 percent respectively according to a recent report by International Budget Partnership (IBP) Kenya.
The report, that considers availability of budget document such as Annual Development Plan (ADP), County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP) among others, showed that 40 percent of these documents were available during the period under review.
The Budget and Economic think-tank said though an improvement from 32 percent in 2019, the process was slow.
Other Counties with transparent budgets were Nyeri and Makueni that scored 71 and 70 percent respectively accoeding to the report that was launched on Friday May, 7.
Among the counties with the most opaque budgets were (scores 0 out of 100) were Kirinyaga, Taita Taveta, Wajir and Narok. The counties did not publish any of the budget documents reviewed during the survey.
Failure by the counties to avail the documents impedes public participation during the budget making process as citizens lack information to enable them make informed decisions. This results to misplaced priorities.
