Governors in Kenya have threatened to halt operations in counties if the national government does not provide Sh94 million intended for the devolved entities.
For a final decision on a potential move to halt operations in the 47 counties, the county heads will meet on Friday to address the issue.
For payments that were made late from March to May, the counties are asking for Sh94.4 billion.
Sh29.7 billion, Sh33.3 billion, and Sh31.4 billion in allocations are still due for the counties for the months of March, April, and May 2023.
County heads in Kenya have also charged the national treasury with purposely delaying releasing funding to the regions, hurting service delivery, and delaying the start of important projects.
Governors were unable to manage the counties and were forced to cease operations, according to Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, the head of the Council of Governors’ Finance, Planning, and Economic Affairs Committee.
“All the 47 governors will hold a meeting today (Friday) to assess the possibility to shut down counties if the national treasury will continue reneging on the promise for timely release of funds and ensure full absorption by counties,” said Mr Barasa.
The county leaders’ action comes as the devolved units struggle financially and are being forced to approach banks for overdrafts amounting to millions of shillings in order to pay salaries.
Speaking at the Bukhungu stadium, Kenya, at the unveiling of the third Kakamega County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), Mr. Barasa claimed that despite being required by law, the national treasury has not provided funds to counties by the 15th of each month.
“There is no way we can expect development in counties without money. We are in arrears going up to four months yet we are almost finishing the current financial year,” he added.
A recommendation for the government to implement adjustments to make the national treasury more independent in its supply of services to the counties is one of the topics, that governors would consider.
According to Mr. Barasa, the treasury is biased and only looks out for the interests of the federal government, oblivious to the requirements of the counties.
He claimed that while counties went without funding, impairing operations, national government ministries received funding on time.
“We are putting the national treasury Cabinet Secretary in Kenya on notice that from the meeting, we shall come out with a clear way forward on the allocation of money to counties. We need to come up with a reliable and predictable method for timely release of funds,” Mr Barasa noted.
According to the latest report from the Controller of Budget, the 47 devolved units have total pending bills of Sh158 billion, comprising Sh157.18 billion by the county executives and Sh1.63 billion by county assemblies as of February 2023.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said before the Senate Committee on Devolution, which is presided over by Wajir Senator Mohamed Abbas, that the total amount of unpaid debt has increased from Sh153 billion in the previous fiscal year.
She noted that in addition to Nairobi, Kenya, which has the highest percentage of unpaid bills at 63.2%, other counties with high unpaid bills include Wajir, which has outstanding debt of Sh5.50 billion, Kiambu, which owes Sh4.98 billion, Mombasa, which owes Sh4.97 billion, Machakos, which owes Sh2.88 billion, and Murang’a (Sh2.57 billion).
Mandera ($2.12 billion), Turkana ($2.1 billion), Kajiado ($2 billion), Kisumu ($1.67 billion), Kitui ($1.43 billion), Narok ($1.29 billion), and Garissa ($1.29 billion) are other counties with unpaid invoices totaling more than Sh1 billion (Sh1.28 billion).
According to Ms. Nyakang’o, her office sent letters to all 47 county governments requesting that they complete the verification procedure and submit the report on outstanding debts along with the payment schedule for implementation and oversight.
Only 12 counties have provided reports from the verification processes, despite the fact that numerous counties created internal committees to check the outstanding invoices after the August 2022 General Election. Lamu, Vihiga, Uasin Gishu, Murang’a, Machakos, Siaya, Kakamega, Kwale, Turkana, Laikipia, Nyamira, and Kitui are the 12 countries.