Employees of Siaya and Kisumu county governments will have to wait longer to receive their July salaries.
The delays are a result of technical hitches in the budget-making cycle. county secretaries from the two regions said.
While the county staff in Kisumu will have their salaries paid in two weeks' time, their counterparts in Siaya will have to wait until the end of August.
The Siaya county assembly approved the Sh8.1 billion 2021-22 budget estimates.
In Kisumu, the county assembly passed a Sh10.7 billion budget for 2021-22.
Kisumu county secretary Geoffrey Kigochi said the devolved unit is concluding the processing of the 2021-22 budget.
In a letter dated August 10, which was copied to all county executive committee members, chief officers, the county public service board CEO, the city manager and the county attorney, Kigochi requested the staff to be patient.
"This will take approximately two weeks. We, therefore, request our staff to be patient as we finalise the budget enactment," he said.
But a section of the employees and union officials from Kisumu accused the budget directorate of deliberately delaying the process to make changes in what was approved by the assembly.
Kisumu assembly clerk Owen Ojuok said the budget was passed in June as required by law.
The Star established that the budget directorate was yet to upload the budget into the IFMIS for verification by the Controller of Budget.
Apart from the presentation of the physical copy of the approved budget estimates, county governments are required to upload the document to IFMIS so that it can be scrutinised and verified by the Controller of Budget.
Elvis Otieno, who heads the budget directorate, on Wednesday declined to comment on the matter.
Kenya National Union of Nurses deputy secretary-general Maurice Opetu asked the county government to look for money to pay salaries.
He accused the county government of being inconsiderate of the plight and welfare of its employees.
"They kept quiet about this issue until we wrote to them last Friday. They had told us that they have an MoU with commercial banks, but it is emerging that no bank can trust them with overdrafts," Opetu said.
The union official said most staff members will be adversely affected by the delay, considering they have rent and school fees to pay, and loans to service.
"This is very unfortunate. My team will be meeting to discuss the next course of action," Opetu said.
In Siaya, employees blamed the delay on an alleged stand-off between the executive and the assembly over the budget-making process.
The Star established that the assembly was yet to approve the appropriation bill.
Budget committee chairman Sylvester Madialo said on Wednesday the house is keen to ensure the information on all roll-over projects, as indicated in the bill, is accurate before passing it.
"The next budget cycle will be shorter, considering it is an election year. We must therefore ensure that all roll-overs are complete. We have to thoroughly scrutinise the document before endorsing it," Madialo said.
But Siaya county nurses union secretary Sylvester Ng'anda said his team will convene a meeting on Saturday with officials from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union and Union of Clinical Officers to deliberate on the matter.
"These people do not understand that we wholly rely on salaries unlike them who enjoy per diems and other allowances," he said.
On Tuesday, Siaya county secretary Joseph Ogutu in a letter copied to Governor Cornel Rasanga, said the situation is likely to be resolved by the end of August.
He said the departments concerned were making concerted efforts to address the matter.
Edited by A.N
