Cash delays by Treasury hit counties

Services in counties are almost coming to a halt after the national government failed to disburse funds to the devolved regions for the last three months.

The national government owes counties more than Sh96.4 billion in equitable share for July, August and September, said Council of Governors (CoG) chairperson and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.

“Should the delays continue any further, counties are likely to grind to a halt,” Waiguru told People Daily yesterday.

Most counties, she added, had not paid salaries and continued to accumulate pending bills.

“The situation has severely affected the operations of counties in terms of service delivery and implementation of their budgets,” Waiguru said.

“Counties are also unable to pay salaries for their staff, with some resorting to short-term borrowing from commercial banks, which is untenable in the long run.”

Employees in counties such as Turkana, Nyandarua, Nakuru, Trans-Nzoia, Kisumu, Tana River, Marsabit, Garissa and Isiolo have gone without salaries for the last three months.

Only a few counties, including Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Nyamira and Baringo, have found other cash sources to pay their employees and cover daily operations.

Crisis meeting

Sources at CoG told People Daily that Waiguru has convened a crisis meeting tomorrow to discuss delayed disbursements to counties.

Delayed disbursements has stifled devolved units, said Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi. He called on the national government to increase the share of revenue to counties to at least 40 per cent as the President had promised during campaigns before the 2022 elections.

Starving counties of resources has become an annual ritual and discredited the objectives of devolution as envisioned in the Constitution, Mwangangi said.

“Every year, the Treasury somehow pushes through their position disregarding both the position of [CoG] and the CRA. This has resulted in counties being grossly underfunded to do their constitutional functions,” he said.

The national government, he added, should fast-track the handing over of all devolved functions in agriculture, roads, water, health, and irrigation to counties.

He cited instances where MPs were involved in the constriction and desilting of dams, which is a devolved function.

“Apparently, the national government is operating as if counties don’t exist. Everything that the national government does is geared towards killing county governments,” he lamented.

Several counties have resorted to emergency measures, such as turning to their own-source revenues, overdrafts and loans, to pay salaries and fund day-to-day operations.

In other counties, administrators have issued notices asking staff for patience over delayed salaries.

Treasury promise

In Kiambu, for instance, the head of public service, Peter Ndegwa, has asked workers to be patient about their delayed August salaries.

“The county government has not received [money] from the National Treasury for the months of July, August and September. [Consequently], we have not been able to pay salaries for the month of August 2024,” Ndegwa says in a September 5 memo.

Assuring employees that the Treasury had promised to remit the money, Ndegwa called for patience and understanding.

“We understand the implications of delayed salaries and request the staff to bear with us as we engage the National Treasury through the Council of Governors to release the funds as soon as possible,” Ndegwa wrote.

Several trade unions representing health workers have threatened to down their tools this week unless the devolved units meet their demands that include payment of their salaries.