Governors Threaten Total Shutdown in Counties in 30 Days if Funds are not Released
Governors now wanting all arrears settled before a full-blown crisis erupts in counties, leading to a total shut down.
Wajir County Governor Ahmed Abdullahi when he appeared before the committee on Thursday, April 27, 2023 to respond the queries raised by the Auditor General in the 2019/20 financial year. PHOTO DENNIS ONSONGO.
County governors have sounded an early warning to the national government that staff in counties risk going for Christmas without a coin as a cash crunch continue to bite, with some county staff having had to go for more than 3 months without pay.
According to to the CoG, in the next 30 days, counties will have to shut down operations completely if monies owed now totalling to kes. 63.6 billion for the months of Ocotober and November are not disbursed immediately.
Currently counties have been left to offer critical services as some stay at home with the biting cash crunch.
CoG chair Ahmed Abdulahi, who is also Wajir Governor, told a press conference after an extraordinary council of governors meeting in Nairobi that it was unfair that business continues for the national Government, courtesy of a passed supplementary budget, for counties it has ground to a halt.
Consequently, governors say they cannot continue being at the mercy of commercial banks, as they constantly borrow to pay salaries and repay at exorbitant interests as they wait on the national government to disburse what should have been rightfully and constitutionally allocated to them by the 15th of every month.
Governors now wanting all arrears settled before a full-blown crisis erupts in counties, leading to a total shut down.
On matters health, the governors also say the slow registration to the new Social Health Insurance Fund has been hampered by lack of resources, saying, availability would also have the community health promoters spearhead the drive and soar up the numbers.
The CoG has also demanded that monies owed to them under the defunct NHIF, now totalling to about kes. 9 billion shillings should be released to them, noting, hospitals lacked medicines as KEMSA is not ready to advance them more credit because of a kes. 3.8 billion debt, which they argue would be sorted if the kes. 9 billion debt is sorted.
The CoG want a speedy resolution for that matter as they call on the national government to prioritize matters devolution.
On the ongoing standoff between the senate and the national assembly over the division of revenue bill, the council wants the national assembly to tone down on their hard stance, and revert to the agreed kes. 400 billion
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