Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka has asked governors to be patient as President Uhuru Kenyatta is soon to sign the County Revenue Allocation Bill and release cash to counties.
“We struggled to pass the allocation bill and I know the first thing the President will do after arriving from [his business trip to] France is to sign it so that county governments get the funds,” Lusaka said in Bungoma on Sunday.
Lusaka urged the county chiefs to put the funds to proper use in the service of wananchi when they receive them.
“Everybody understands the hell we went through before the County Revenue Allocation Bill was passed. I'm appealing to the Council of Governors to halt their plan to shut down the counties due to the funds' delay,” Lusaka said.
The Council of Governors under their leadership of Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has again threatened to ground operations in the counties over lack of funds.
Oparanya said the counties have been running on empty for the last four months.
Speaking in Kakamega on Sunday, Oparanya accused the Treasury of hurting service delivery in the counties.
“We will not continue operating this way; we need money to pay salaries and for projects. We need money disbursed or else we will soon shut down devolved units and send workers home,” he said.
Oparanya wondered why the national government was silent as the counties suffer despite the Senate passing the third generation revenue sharing formula.
“We are tired of being played around. We are not going to stomach it anymore. They either release the cash to counties or we close all services,” he said.
