Kenya: Treasury accused of being reluctant to release funds to County governments

• BY JACK MARWA, Naivasha – Kenya 

County Speakers are now warning that operations of counties could stall due to lack of chambers for debates and enactment of various legislations. The speakers and their deputies noted that over 30 counties did not have chambers and could be forced to conduct their businesses under trees.

Just like the governors, they lamented lack of funds in running of counties and called for urgent action from the treasury. Speaking in Naivasha where the governor’s retreat has been going on, the leaders wondered if the government had been prepared for the devolved system.

Tana River Speaker Dr Abdi Nur Nassir said that it would be impossible to run counties without funds and infrastructure. “Many of the counties do not have chambers and we shall be forced to conduct our business under trees,” he said.

Flanked by his colleagues, Nur revisited the issue of funding and blamed the treasury for the current impasse. He said that only Sh20m had been sent to counties by yesterday while the rest of the funds were yet to be disbursed.

Nairobi County Speaker Alex Ole Magero revisited the issue of salaries and accused the Salaries and remuneration commission of giving them a raw deal. Magero wondered why the commission was having discussions with Mps and disregarding county representatives. “We plan to take out memorandum to the senate as we feel the SRC did this in bad faith and we shall not accept these salaries,” he said.

During the workshop, leaders from cattle rustling areas agreed to work together and eradicate the vice that had adversely affected the region.

Addressing the press, Baringo governor Benjamin Cheboi said that rustling had seen the region lag behind in development. “We have decided to set aside our differences and we shall work together to eradicate cattle rustling in this area,” he said.

The sentiments were echoed by his Turkana counterpart Josphat Nanok who said that they would mobilize their communities to discard the vice. “We admit that the vice has affected all sectors in the county and we shall talk to the electorate to discard rustling,” he said.

Ends.