Counties shut over revenue stalemate crisis stalemate crisis
By People Team, September 17, 2020Anthony Mwangi and Hillary Mageka
Counties have been shut down over lack of funds occasioned by the prolonged revenue sharing formula stalemate at the Senate.
In a notice to all county chiefs, Council of Governors (CoG) chairman Wycliffe Oparanya says regional governments will also suspend all non-essential services.
“The Senate has not been able to unlock the stalemate on the flow of funds. It is, therefore, not clear when this impasse will be resolved.
In this regard, all county governments are advised to issue necessary notices suspending operations in non-essential areas,” Oparanya said in a statement yesterday.
Following the closure, county health facilities will not permit new in-patient admissions and will only provide minimal outpatient services.
Further, all non-essential services have been suspended with immediate effect and county employees advised to proceed on leave for two weeks.
Oparanya, who is also the Kakamega Governor, said the council will continue to push for speedy release of funds.
The impasse at the Senate had paralysed some functions in the devolved units before yesterday’s announcement.
There was, however, a ray of hope after President Uhuru Kenyatta offered Sh50 billion on top of the current sharable revenue of Sh316 billion as he and Opposition leader Raila Odinga sought to end the stalemate.
Increased amount has been predicated on performance of the economy that is reeling from Covid-19 shocks.
Oparanya, in his opinion, said that had the national government released the equitable share by September 16, no devolved function would have been halted.
He told workers, some of whom have gone without pay for two months, to brace for tougher times ahead because there is no money to pay their August salaries.
But yesterday, in passionate addresses on the floor of the House, senators tore into Oparanya’s declaration, saying he has no locus to shut down county services.
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula termed Oparanya’s statement as an abuse of authority.
Overplays himself
“The CoG is not the employer of any employees of counties; employers are the different County Public Service Boards. Governors cannot even send a sweeper on compulsory leave,” said Wetang’ula.
He added: “We have seen the chair of CoG overplaying himself with powers he does not have, abusing senators as he wishes.
I want to stand here and urge members to take great exception to this reckless misadventure by the Council chair and remind him that he should bring his governors to order in respect of accountability.”
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua said senators are not just dealing with a failed leader at CoG but one with a big question without an answer.
“Governor Oparanya is not new to reckless statements. He appeared before the ad hoc Committee on Medical Equipment Scheme (MES) and made a very weird statement,” said Wambua.
Oparanya, he charged, “went to bed with the Executive and sold the counties at Sh316.5 billion”.
“Oparanya is hell-bent on calling on the Senate to entrench the marginalisation of Wajir, Mandera, et al because he is going to bed with the Executive,” Wambua said.
Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina dismissed the CoG as a club of busy bodies who had no powers to do anything.
“If you make somebody a prefect, they even forget they were students. Why can’t CoG sit and discuss the issue of boundaries, if they care so much about the people, resolve boundaries.
They are always finding faults in a House that defends them,” Ole Kina said in reference to the dispute between the Senate and the governors.
The Council has in the past expressed discontent with the Senate’s failure to build consensus on the third generation formula, which has consequently delayed the approval of the County Allocation of Revenue Act.
As the impasse at the Senate continues, the CoG says that counties have not received their equitable share of revenue four months into the 2020/21 Financial Year.
“This has had serious implications on the general operations of counties and payment of salaries to county staff,” said Oparanya.
“This is tantamount to killing devolution similar to what happened in 1964.”
Oparanya accused the Senate of failing to safeguard the interests of counties by failing to pass the formula.
Further delay
“This has left counties with no resources to effectively discharge their functions especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the Kakamega Governor.
Oparanya has further told senators to stop intimidating and threatening them because of their decision to shut down counties.
Addressing a news conference yesterday, Oparanya insisted that they will still go ahead with their plans as counties no longer have funds to sustain operations.
CoG’s uproar comes at a time the 12-member Senate committee, formed to determine how counties share the Sh316.5 billion allocated to them in the 2020-21 budget, is yet to agree on a way forward.
To this end, the governors warned senators that a petition from any member of the public through the High Court can initiate its dissolution as provided for under Article 258 of the Constitution.
“It is unfortunate that county governments are unable to even pay the salaries and allowances of our health workers who remain in the frontline to save the lives of Kenyans,” said Oparanya.
He had earlier warned that the county governments risk shutting down if the stalemate persists beyond mid-September.
They called on the National Treasury to release the county equitable share of revenue without further delay.
“Indeed, the Attorney General cannot overrule the Supreme Court finding and must, therefore, withdraw the Advisory,” he said.
Tuesday’s State House meeting that was also attended by Oparanya, came in the wake of complaints by senators that they were unable to access the President to get a firm resolve.
With this undertaking on the table, the President required the senators to urgently resolve the revenue sharing stalemate at the Senate to avoid disruption of service delivery in the counties.