Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich is in trouble with governors following his publication in the Kenya Gazette that revised the disbursement of the county governments equitable share of allocation.
Speaking during a meeting held by the Council of Governors (CoG), Kirinyaga County boss Anne Waiguru alleged that the medical equipment leasing scheme, highlighted in the Gazette notice is scandalous as it varied by more than 100 percent.
She revealed that under the Ksh38 billion Managed Equipment Service (MES), counties were originally paying Ksh95 million, but are now told to make a payment of Ksh200 million annually.
This means that cumulatively, counties currently pay Ksh9.4 billion per year as opposed to Ksh4.5 billion.
[caption caption="Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru making an address at Harambee House"]
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Reiterating Kirinyaga boss' sentiments, her Turkana counterpart Josphat Nanok lamented that the money is deducted directly from county allocation and paid to the private suppliers by the National Treasury.
"The Government signed an agreement for MES and later signed MoUs with the county governments on the same. The governors have actually just learnt with shock that the cost of the MES has moved from Ksh95 million to Ksh200 million per year, without clear explanations," Nanok stated.
Additionally, the governors protested CS Rotich's move to reduce the County Revenue Allocation by Ksh14 billion without consulting them first.
"The CS has gone ahead to publish the revised county governments share downwards by Ksh14 billion in the Gazette notice. This is without discussion, consultation or approval of Parliament in the amendment of the Division of Revenue and County Allocation of Revenue Acts. This renders the process illegal and outright abuse of office," Nanok added.
The CoG also argued that the last audited accounts for the counties were those of 2016 - 2017, while the last audited accounts for the National Government were still as far as the 2013-2014 financial year.
"There is more scrutiny on county budgets and expenditures. The last audited accounts for the counties are 2016-2017, while the last audited accounts for the national government are 2013-2014," the Turkana governor concluded.
[caption caption="Chairman of the Council of Governors Josphat Nanok making his remarks during the County bosses meeting Nairobi"]
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