The Council of Governors has sought the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta over the delayed disbursement of Sh29.6 billion equitable share to counties.
In a statement on Friday, the CoG told the president the delay has crippled essential service provision in counties, delayed clearance of pending bills, staff salaries, and payments to suppliers.
"We as the Council of Governors seek your intervention on this matter. We implore upon you to direct the National Treasury to disburse the remaining funds forthwith," CoG said in the statement signed by chair Martin Wambora.
The governors decried the delays, terming them unwarranted and unjustifiable, saying the matter has further been worsened by the perennial downtown of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) due to the large number of transactions occasioned by the delays.
"The National Treasury should allow counties to transact through the IFMIS until July 15, 2022. This will enable counties to process and complete transactions that are already in process under the IFMIS," the governors implored the president.
Under Article 219 of the Constitution and Section 17 (6) of the Public Finance Act, 2012, Treasury is supposed to disburse funds from the County Equitable Share to all 47 counties before the end of every financial year.
The 2021/22 Financial Year ended on June 30, 2022.
Under the 2021/22 Financial year, counties were entitled to Sh370 billion Equitable Share from the National government.
But counties will in the current 2022/23 Financial Year have Sh407 billion at their disposal after Senate approved the Additional Allocation of Revenue Bill, 2022 which gave counties an extra Sh37 billion.
The Sh407 billion comprises Sh370 billion in equitable share and Sh37.1 billion in grants.
