The Council of Governors (CoG) has called upon the national government to expedite the process of disbursing funds to the counties.
On Thursday, October 6, Anne Waiguru, the chair, decried the delay in the disbursement noting that they have been compelled to halt development projects and response activities in the counties due to insufficient funds.
The governors, as such demanded the disbursement of the funds before Monday, October 10.
“The Council, therefore, calls upon the National Treasury to release all the outstanding disbursements to Counties on or before Monday, October 10, 2022,” a statement sent by the council read in part.
“So far, the continued delay in disbursement of funds has paralysed county operations with respect to payment of salaries to officials, purchase of medical supplies, stalling of development projects and response interventions in drought and disaster management.”
According to the governors- the total sum of funds allocated to the counties for the month of October is in the region of Ksh29.6 billion. Further, the governors stated that the national government owe counties arrears of over Ksh50 billion for the months of August and September.
“As of today, the total outstanding arrears owed to counties stands at Ksh51 billion as follows; Ksh20.31 billion owed to 27 Counties for the August 2022 allocation and Kshs31.45 billion owed to 47 Counties for September 2022 allocation," Waiguru stated after meeting governors.
During the meeting, the governors also laid down a five-year strategy aimed at enhancing effectiveness in the execution of their mandate.
"We structured our five-year strategy into action points & targets to enable us to be effective. Timely disbursement of county allocations, the appointment of CoG reps in the PPP Board & unbundling, costing & transferring of devolved functions was agreed upon," Waiguru stated.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had assured the governors of the timely disbursement of funds to enable them to meet the expectations on devolution.
“The issue of delayed disbursement will be addressed. We must give a true meaning to devolution. In our policy, we have no business about who supported who and who did not,” Gachagua stated during the induction of governors in Mombasa.
