- Kakamega governor says governors are treating failure by the Treasury to release funds as the usual delays, not a freeze.
- CoG chair says funds can't be stopped over paying bills.
Governors say they cannot clear pending bills until the National Treasury releases funds to them.
Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya yesterday said funds started flowing to counties in October this year after a three-month standoff between the Senate and National Assembly but stopped again last month.
The two houses agreed that the 47 counties receive Sh316 billion in the 2019-20 financial year. The National Treasury had put some counties on notice over pending bills and gave told them to pay up or risk being denied funds.
“Usually, I know that such a period is the time when the repayment of debts is due, but instead of the national government telling us to wait or having a proper programme of releasing the funds, they are now using tricks of pending bills,” he said.
“You can’t stop funds because I am not paying bills. How do I pay the bills then if you’re not giving me the money to use to pay? The decision as to which bills should be paid should be left to counties.”
He said the national government was attempting to micro-manage county governments. At least eight counties from Nyanza and Western regions are facing a cash crunch after the National Treasury threatened to withhold their funding for failing to clear pending bills. They are Kisumu, Kisii, Siaya, Kakamega (headed by Oparanya), Migori, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga. Another 28 counties face the same predicament.
Yesterday, Oparanya said governors were treating failure by the Treasury to release funds to them as the usual delays, not a freeze. He said that for any stoppage of county funds, the legal process must be followed and that includes approval by both houses of Parliament.
“Delays in releasing funds to counties undermine the principle of devolved governments which requires that devolved units have reliable resources of revenue to govern and deliver services effectively to its citizens,” he said.
He accused the Treasury of deliberate failure to comply with Section 17( 6 ) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), which requires disbursement to be made by 15th of every month. The county chief said a continuous delay in releasing funds has occasioned nonpayment of salaries to thousands of employees.
The CoG has petitioned the High Court to compel the Treasury to immediately disburse the equitable share in compliance with the Constitution and the PFMA.
Oparanya said that though county governments were working to improve their local revenue base, they are still entitled to their shareable revenue from the national government. His administration paid November salaries using funds from own sources without remitting statutory deductions. He said Kakamega had doubled local revenue in the past three months.
(Edited by F'Orieny)