Mudavadi vows release of funds to counties on time

The national government has pledged to ensure the timely disbursement of funds to counties to ease the financial constraints occasioned by delays in the release of an equitable share of the revenue.

Without giving timelines, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who assured counties that the stalemate was being addressed, said the National Treasury is expected to give more details on how the government intends to resolve the issue of delayed disbursements.

This comes as health workers in 12 counties are expected to stage a boycott beginning today following delayed payment of salaries.

Governors have also warned of a major paralysis in service delivery after Treasury failed to remit funds for the months of January, February, March and April.

Mr Mudavadi yesterday termed as regrettable continued delays in the disbursements of funds.

Protect devolution

He assured the country that the Kenya Kwanza administration will protect devolution.

"We truly believe in devolution because it has made a great difference in our country. As we deal with the teething problems, we want to reaffirm that, as the national government, we cannot go back on [implementing] devolution," said Mr Mudavadi.

He went on: "One of the challenges that we are facing has been delays in remittances to the county governments in the context of national revenue sharing mechanism."

"We want to ensure that county governments get their resources on time. We shall give more details on how we intend to solve the problem," he added.

As a sign that the Kenya Kwanza administration values devolution, Mr Mudavadi pointed out that President William Ruto met with all the governors in Naivasha soon after the election.

He said Dr Ruto was committed to fast-tracking the process of releasing funds to counties.

"We are not happy that there is a delay because we know it is exerting a lot of pressure on the county governments," he said.

Most county governments have been forced to seek costly bank overdrafts to enable them to pay salaries as the cash crunch continues to bite.

Governors have warned of difficulties in offering crucial services in health, agriculture, water and education.

According to Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, who is the Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs Committee chairman at the Council of Governors, the delays have negatively affected the delivery of services in the devolved units, including the implementation of key projects.

“The 47 counties are owed Sh31.5 billion for January and a similar amount for February. The counties have also not received disbursements amounting to Sh29.6 billion for March,” Mr Barasa told the Nation.

“There is no development taking place and critical dockets like agriculture, health and education have been hurt,” he said.

[email protected]