CoG chair Josephat Nanok. [Photo/the-star.co.ke]
Eight counties are yet to receive money from the Treasury in the first four months of the financial year to October.
This has resulted in a delay in payments of workers’ pay, suppliers debt and new development projects.
The latest Kenya Gazette notice indicate that Mandera, Kitui, Makueni, Baringo, Nakuru, Kisii, Nyamira and Nyeri have not been allocated their share of the Sh302 billion set aside for counties for the year to June next year.
The Treasury has allocated the remaining 39 counties Sh35.3 billion during the four months with Nairobi getting the lion’s share of Sh5 billion followed by Kiambu’s Sh2.3 billion.
Controller of Budget—who approves release of cash from the government’s main account—said the Treasury’s accounting unit is best placed to explain the cash hitch in the eight counties.
The counties have had to endure a four-months cash crunch following contradictions between the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) 2017 assented to by President Uhuru Kenyatta and the disbursement schedule approved by the Senate.
It is highly probable that the eight counties did not receive a coin from Treasury because the Controller of Budget did not authorise withdrawals due to anomalies in their budgets.
The law allows the Controller of Budget to authorise withdrawal of funds by counties based on the passage of their respective county budgets and the national Treasury to disburse counties’ share of revenue by the 15th date of every month.