Update: 3:30pm After running the story, the Council of Governors later resolved to meet the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council and found a solution to the stalemate on revenue sharing.
The Council of Governors (CoG) has initially boycotted a meeting of the powerful Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) chaired by Deputy President William Ruto at his office in Karen, Nairobi.
The meeting was supposed to comprise the CoG, Treasury CS Henry Rotich, the office of the Controller of Budget, the office of the Auditor General and the Commission on Revenue Allocation.
A well-placed source at the council told Kenyans.co.ke that the council is protesting that the Division of Revenue Allocation (DORA) Bill 2019 was not an agenda in the meeting.
Contents of the nine key discussion points of today's meeting seen by this writer indeed did not include the DORA Bill that has caused a deadlock in Parliament.
The Public Finance Management Act, 2012 established the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council to provide a forum for cooperation between the national and county governments on all budgeting and integrated development matters and the administration of the revenue sharing process in the devolved structure.
The two Houses have been divided over the amount of money that should be allocated to counties in the 2019/20 financial year, leading to the collapse of the Bill.
The National Assembly had allocated Ksh314 billion to the 47 counties but senators revised the amount to Ksh335 billion which was met by with heavy resistance by the MPs.
As a result, county governments will not be able to access money for the 2019/20 financial year that starts on July 1, until the Bill is passed.
"This is to bring to your attention that county governments have no funds to perform any functions.
"It is important that Kenyans understand that county governments will literally grind to a halt," read the CoG's statement addressed to Kenyans and members of the press on Monday.
