National Blame Games A Blow To Counties
Updated on: Sep 09, 2020
If all Kenyans, regardless of their status were to abide by the law, the problem we are facing at county levels would not exist.
This is because despite all the debates and discussions in both the senate and parliament on county revenue allocation, there is a way to ensure counties get at least a small portion for normal running.
According to Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, the constitution allows for disbursement of at least half of what counties should receive before conclusion of the ongoing discussions, something that has not happened.
There is sufficient law in place to allow the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the controller of budget to proceed to disburse a minimum of 50% of the county allocation from last year, said the governor.
The national assembly speaker Justin Mutiri together with Paul Kihara, the attorney general is against the idea, citing lack of sufficient legal basis to disburse the money, thus throwing back the ball to the senate.
The Public Finance Act regulations (134) states that the county allocation on revenue act is not enacted, the controller of budget may authorize disbursement of up to 50 per cent of the money from the previous years. This forms a genuine reason for the attorney general to authorize the same.
The two houses and the national treasury have been blaming each other on why counties have no money.
It is quite shameful and a dereliction of duty that our senior most leaders (senate and parliament) continue to play ping pong with the lives of Kenyans, said Governor Muriithi.
The debate and blame games have left counties helpless as the matter goes beyond the county bosses. The council of governors has announced a suspension of operations in all the 47 counties if the national government fails to disburse money by September 17.
If you dont have a budget, you cannot have a government, said Governor Muriithi.
According to the governor there are forces set to benefit at the expense of innocent Kenyans in the delay of disbursement of fund to the counties.
Even if there were no sufficient registration (of which there is), how long should it take the two houses of parliament to make an appropriate law and save Kenyans lives? he wondered.
So what does it mean to suspend operations run by county governments come 17 September, 2020?
Laikipia governor sheds some light to the dark report, showing how Kenyans will greatly suffer at the delight of few individuals.
Apart from the most essential services like hospitals, all other operations will be suspended and workers sent home as there is no money to run the county governments, he said. Running of the same services might also be affected if the workers go on strike for lack of pay. Healthcare workers are sacrificing so much especially at this Covid-19 with less motivation.
Laikipians will see a changed county from clean towns to rather dirty ones for nobody will be collected the garbage. Trucks have been going round on a daily basis picking waste materials from various points, but this will be a thing of the past come date 18 of this month.
Any disconnected water or burst pipes, for example, will run so until money gets to the devolved units.
Thinking of street lights going off only adds more fear of what the streets will look like if the counties are not given money to pay for the bills. The level of security will definitely go down.
These only act as a tip of an iceberg. Innocent citizens are bound to suffer despite having paid taxes.
Now all eyes are on the senate to see if they will have come up with a lasting solution of revenue allocations to counties on or before Thursday 17 September this year.
This is because despite all the debates and discussions in both the senate and parliament on county revenue allocation, there is a way to ensure counties get at least a small portion for normal running.
According to Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, the constitution allows for disbursement of at least half of what counties should receive before conclusion of the ongoing discussions, something that has not happened.
There is sufficient law in place to allow the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the controller of budget to proceed to disburse a minimum of 50% of the county allocation from last year, said the governor.
The national assembly speaker Justin Mutiri together with Paul Kihara, the attorney general is against the idea, citing lack of sufficient legal basis to disburse the money, thus throwing back the ball to the senate.
The Public Finance Act regulations (134) states that the county allocation on revenue act is not enacted, the controller of budget may authorize disbursement of up to 50 per cent of the money from the previous years. This forms a genuine reason for the attorney general to authorize the same.
The two houses and the national treasury have been blaming each other on why counties have no money.
It is quite shameful and a dereliction of duty that our senior most leaders (senate and parliament) continue to play ping pong with the lives of Kenyans, said Governor Muriithi.
The debate and blame games have left counties helpless as the matter goes beyond the county bosses. The council of governors has announced a suspension of operations in all the 47 counties if the national government fails to disburse money by September 17.
If you dont have a budget, you cannot have a government, said Governor Muriithi.
According to the governor there are forces set to benefit at the expense of innocent Kenyans in the delay of disbursement of fund to the counties.
Even if there were no sufficient registration (of which there is), how long should it take the two houses of parliament to make an appropriate law and save Kenyans lives? he wondered.
So what does it mean to suspend operations run by county governments come 17 September, 2020?
Laikipia governor sheds some light to the dark report, showing how Kenyans will greatly suffer at the delight of few individuals.
Apart from the most essential services like hospitals, all other operations will be suspended and workers sent home as there is no money to run the county governments, he said. Running of the same services might also be affected if the workers go on strike for lack of pay. Healthcare workers are sacrificing so much especially at this Covid-19 with less motivation.
Laikipians will see a changed county from clean towns to rather dirty ones for nobody will be collected the garbage. Trucks have been going round on a daily basis picking waste materials from various points, but this will be a thing of the past come date 18 of this month.
Any disconnected water or burst pipes, for example, will run so until money gets to the devolved units.
Thinking of street lights going off only adds more fear of what the streets will look like if the counties are not given money to pay for the bills. The level of security will definitely go down.
These only act as a tip of an iceberg. Innocent citizens are bound to suffer despite having paid taxes.
Now all eyes are on the senate to see if they will have come up with a lasting solution of revenue allocations to counties on or before Thursday 17 September this year.
