Matungu MP Oscar Nabulindo has said it has become impossible to serve Kenyans so the Treasury CS Njuguna Ndungu should declare the country bankrupt.
Nabulindo urged Ndung’u to fast-track the release of funds to counties to avoid a total shutdown.
“The Minister of Finance should declare this country to be bankrupt because they cannot fund CDF, they cannot pay salaries, they cannot pay MPs, they cannot pay parliamentary staff, they cannot pay public servants and now the counties are closing down,” he said.
The legislator on Tuesday said the delay in disbursement of funds continues to hurt operations in counties and MPs who are waiting for CDF to implement projects are bearing the brunt.
He said as a result, most MPs are yet to complete payment of bursaries to needy students while most projects have stalled.
“The money for this financial year for CDF is yet to be received, we have not completed paying bursaries and a lot of projects have stalled because the government releases funds in a way that cannot help,” he said.
Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru on April 24, said counties will shut down over the delay of funds by the National Treasury.
Waiguru who spoke after holding a meeting with fellow governors said devolution is under threat from the national government.
"The Council of Governors hereby issues a 14 days notice to shutdown counties if February, March and April arrears are not released within two weeks," Waiguru said.
Waiguru decried that counties had not received their allocations for four months.
But in a meeting between the governors and the National Treasury held on May 3, it was agreed that disbursements for March and April will be by the end of May.
Waiguru said the payments will be made in two tranches to avert the collapse of county functions.
"It has been resolved that the March allocations are to be disbursed by May 15, 2023, and April allocations by the end of May," Waiguru said.
She added that funds for May and June will be issued within the first two weeks of June to allow counties to absorb the resources within the current financial year.
