Governors have refused to make any payments demanded by the national government for Sh38 billion leased medical equipment.
They are also angry the Treasury wants to slash county budgets by Sh9 billion in 2019-20.
Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said on Wednesday that if counties are forced to pay they will sue the government over the Managed Equipment Services (MES) project.
“Our position as counties is that we are not going to accept any deduction of our shareable revenues on this issue unless we are clearly brought on board," he told a press conference with Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o.
The Kakamega governor told counties not to make any payment until they understand the details of the lease agreement.
To date, counties have not been shown the agreement between the national government and the suppliers since 2015, he said.
Oparanya acknowledged the counties made a general agreement with the national government to provide space for the equipment and provide maintenance.
He said they stand by their statement before the Senate on April 23 that the leased equipments has not been officially bought by the national government.
Governors urged the Senate Finance and Budget Committee to form a select committee to probe the deal they said was forced down their throats.
Nyong’o said the governors who were in office previously were 'blackmailed' into accepting this equipment after they resisted it.
Nyong'o said the county contract has been varied, noting that the initial contract was for Sh3.8 billion, then Sh4.5 billion, then Sh6.1 billion and later Sh9.6 billion.
Governors told the Senate that with the 'arbitrarily' increased contracts, each county will now pay Sh200 million instead of the previous agreement of Sh97.7 million.
Nyong'o said, “Health is a devolved function. You cannot buy equipment for county governments without their saying they want it and force it on them without (their) seeing any agreement. You cannot impose a loan on anybody who didn't ask for it."
"If the national government wants to pursue the issue then they should treat it as a grant to the counties so that they are able to deal with the issue themselves," Oparanya said.
He said the national government wants to do the same with Universal Health Coverage, health centres and dispensaries.
“We are not going to accept it until we discuss, are brought on board and each county is treated individually so we are can know what is happening with the leased equipment," Oparanya said.
“Leasing of the contentious medical equipment is directly debited to our budgets. None of the 47 governors knows what they signed on for, where the money goes to,” Oparanya said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
