- County chiefs held six-hour closed-door meeting with CSs after meeting DP Ruto in Karen
- The summit ,made up of Uhuru and governors, is held twice a year
Governors will today meet President Kenyatta over a stalemate on leased medical equipment and county budget cuts by the national government.
The meeting chaired by Uhuru will also discuss pending bills, the BBI report and county funds delays, which have at times disrupted services in the devolved units.
“We agreed to have a meeting between the Cabinet Secretaries and county chiefs to iron out pertinent issues ahead of the summit, which is composed of the President and governors,” Devolution CS Eugine Wamalwa said.
He addressed the media at the Kenya School Government in Nairobi after a six-hour closed-door meeting of governors and CSs.
“We are on course since 26 counties have already signed on the universal healthcare programs. Six counties have provided land for housing under the Big Four project,” Interior CS Fred Matiangi said.
Council of Governors chairperson Wycliffe Oparanya said the state and county chiefs came together yesterday to address important issues affecting the two levels of government.
“Governors and Cabinet Secretaries met here in a pre-summit meeting before they meet Uhuru tomorrow. The meeting is meant to come up with the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting,” Oparanya said.
The summit, made up of Uhuru and governors, is held twice a year.
Other issues expected in the summit discussions include the Big Four agenda, war on corruption and the new guidelines by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o that have allegedly made it hard for counties to access funds.
"The request from your office on the provision of additional documentation to facilitate your approval of withdrawal of funds amounts to auditing,” Oparanya wrote to Nyakang'o on Monday.
The summit follows an Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) meeting, which was chaired by Deputy President William Ruto at his Karen residence in Nairobi on Wednesday.
“Based on the continued underperformance of ordinary (shareable) revenue, the budget committee of IBEC recommends that the allocations to each level of government be maintained at the financial year 2019-2020,” Commission on Revenue Allocation chairperson Jane Kiringai said.
The national government agreed to release Sh316.5 billion to counties instead of the Sh317.8 billion proposed by Parliament during the IBEC meeting.
The Deputy President called for concerted efforts among the relevant stakeholders to address issues that hinder the management of pending bills.
Kiringai blamed the reduction, which has affected the total budget, on depressed revenue, high debt repayment and the rising wage bill.