The Council of Governors now wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene over the delayed disbursements of funds to the devolved functions.
Speaking during the State of Devolution address Friday, CoG Chairperson Martin Wambora called upon the President to direct the National Treasury to disburse the remaining funds to Counties.
According to Wambora, Treasury is yet to disburse Ksh 29.6 billion to the 47 counties for the month of June in the FY 2021/2022.
He noted that the delays have jeopardized operations and service delivery in the counties.
“All County Governments are in arrears of pending bills and we are unable to pay staff their salaries, pay suppliers or offer essential services to citizens,” Wambora said.
The Embu Governor also pleaded with Treasury to allow them to transact through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) until 15th July this month to enable counties to process and complete transactions that are already in progress under the IFMIS.
Governor Wambora also raised concerns over the continued inefficiency of IFMIS due to the large transactions occasioned by delays in disbursements.
While bidding farewell to 21 Governors serving their final term, Wambora took the chance to highlight the challenges facing county governments since its advent nine years ago that have slowed down the progress towards the realization of the devolution agenda.
He cited the continued delayed disbursements of funds and the establishment of national institutions through policy and legislation that undermine the functional integrity of counties.
Other challenges Wambora noted include; corruption at both levels of government, slow implementation of intergovernmental decisions and existing state agencies and parastatals that continue to receive colossal budgets and also continue to perform county functions nine years later and poor generation of own-source revenue by County Governments.
He reaffirmed that devolution was a game-changer and urged citizens to vote for candidates who will defend devolution in this year’s General Election.
By Fred Azelwa.