Treasury yet to disburse remaining sh.77 bn to counties

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Treasury building Nairobi PHOTO COURTESY

Nairobi, KENYA: County governments are now blaming the national government for its delay in disbursing the remaining sh. 77 billion left from the last financial year of 2017/2018.

The council is concerned that it is only 9 days to the end of the Financial Year and the county governments have not received their dues.

During a media briefing in Nairobi on Thursday ahead of 6th National and County Governments Coordinating Summit meeting to be held on Friday, Council of governors chair Josphat Nanok called upon the national treasury to fast-track the disbursement of the remaining amounts before 25th June 2018 to enable County governments utilize the monies as planned for in the Financial year.

Nanok argued that, if the money is not disbursed within this week and latest on Monday, Counties will run the risk of accruing pending bills which should have been paid within the current Financial Year.

The governors further complained that frequent changes in the procedure and requirements for County Governments funds approved by the controller of budget is disrupting delivery of service which seems to be affecting County Governments and not the National Government.

“This is unfair and should be rectified. We expect the Controller Page 2 of 3 with the Council on what is required at the beginning of the year and not in every other month.” Said Nanok.

However, as the war against corruption is escalating, the governors have vowed to support president Uhuru Kenyatta efforts in fighting the deep-rooted corruption in the country by first supporting the work of Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission, the Director of Criminal Investigations and Director of Public Prosecutions in carrying out their mandate.

In view of the inefficiencies noted and corruption cases reported in many of the productive sectors like sugar, coffee, forestry and agriculture, the Council recommends to His Excellency the President to declare an immediate ban on the importation of Sugar, Rice and Fertilizer as this will allow them to buy Kenya and Build Kenya as a way of promoting local productions.

The governors also explained the need for discussing the framework of how the Kenya police work so that they can strengthen the department and ensure it is effective.

“As per the National Police Service Act, the County Policing Authority which ought to be chaired by Governors is meant to ease community policing and management of security in the counties. As such Governors have a role in security and there is, therefore, need to discuss how to operationalize and funding from the National Kitty the County Policing Authority. We also need to discuss the framework of liaising with the Kenya Police to ensure that security in the Counties is strengthened,” he added.

The governors are looking forward to discussing the issues with the national government at the summit this coming Friday.

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