The Council of Governors on Friday issued a 14-day ultimatum to Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, threatening to shut down county operations.
The warning was delivered by former CoG Chair and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru amid an ongoing dispute between the two levels of government over county budget allocations.
“We, as governors, issue a 14-day ultimatum to the government, failure to which county governments will shut down,” Waiguru stated.
The governors have been up in arms over the delay in the release of critical funds from Treasury to counties, laying blame on Mbadi.
Further, the governors demanded the immediate release of funds, claiming that the delays had severely impacted development projects in the region.
“We have stalled projects for water, roads, and healthcare. Unless we truly do not care about what is happening in this country—especially since public complaints have consistently been about service delivery and stalled projects—we need to get serious,” Waiguru noted.
The latest comes even as the governors protest budget cuts to counties amounting to Ksh25 billion.
The county bosses are demanding answers from the Treasury regarding budget reductions, which they argue will severely impact donor-funded projects.
Among their demands is for the Senate to reject the budget cuts and push for revisions before approving the final budget.
Grants that governors claim have been affected by the budget cuts include the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) grant, the Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP) grant, the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) allocation, and the Water and Sanitation Development Project (WSDP) grant, among others.
Led by CoG Chair and Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi, the governors have also singled out the contentious Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF), which is a huge conflict point with Members of Parliament.
According to the governor, the only agreement reached with Members of Parliament (MPs) was to exclude the RMLF from the budget cuts since the fund is currently the subject of an ongoing court case.
The governors insist that counties should have access to the RMLF since road construction falls within their jurisdiction. Abdullahi further argued that the fuel levy, which funds road maintenance, should be equitably shared between the national and county governments.
