Elgeyo Marakwet is in a financial crisis and has been forced to suspend several operations.
Governor Alex Tolgos blames all this on underfunding.
Tolgos says the formula used by the Commission on Revenue Allocation to distribute revenue to counties was discriminative and had led to little being given to counties like Elgeyo Marakwet, Tharaka Nithi and Isiolo.
“We have been following up on this matter so that the formula is reviewed without success. If it persists to 2022 we will have this county dissolved and returned to the national government,” Tolgos said last weekend.
He said residents deserved development but the money received is too little and mostly covers recurrent expenditure.
Staffers have been ordered not to use official cars unless it was absolutely necessary. They are also not to travel out of the county unless the trips are funded externally.
“We have the problem of hepatitis B. We urgently need more than Sh500 million for testing and vaccination. That amount is more than half of the funds we get for development,” the governor said.
He said the county cannot operate effectively without adequate funding. Hes was speaking at HZ. Treasury CS Henry Rotich was present.
“We are urging you as the CS in charge of finance to help us have this issue resolved. We have been lamenting about under-funding and we won’t allow this to go on until 2022.”
The county receives about Sh3 billion annually from the Treasury. Most of the money goes to salaries and operational costs. The county collects less than Sh200 million from internal revenue annually. It requires Sh3 billion extra to operate effectively.
Tolgos says the region, which is semi-arid, requires resources to improve water supply and key projects. “We can only make an impact as a county if we have resources to deal with problems which affect the lives of our people,” the county boss said.
The governor, however, thanked the national government for intervening to deal with the hepatatis B outbreak.
“We now urge all residents to ensure that they go for screening and vaccination so that we avoid unnecessary death that can be prevented.”
So far the disease has claimed 15 people in Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and parts of Baringo.