Governors, MPs decry delay in disbursement of funds by National Treasury
The Council of Governors (COG) has again shared concerns over delays by the National Treasury in remitting payments to the counties.
Speaking on Monday, 23, 2023, Kakamega governor Fernandes Barasa who doubles up as COG’s finance, planning, and economic affairs committee member indicated the delays were in violation of the law.
Barasa confirmed the National Treasury is 3 months behind in terms of disbursement of the funds.
“The delayed disbursements have affected service delivery in counties to a point of paralyzing operations and especially, essential services. Indeed, most of the counties have been served with notices of industrial action by their workers,” said Mr Barasa.
“We note that County Governments will face major challenges in the performance of the functions assigned to them and delivery of services to citizens in the Financial Year (FY) 2023/24 and the Medium-term given the projected allocation of revenue to Counties,” added Barasa.
Further, COG says it does not agree with the National Treasury’s projected allocation to County Governments of Ksh.380 billion for FY 2023/24 as an equitable share of the revenue.
According to the COG, the allocation is pegged on financing constraints as opposed to the budget which negates the desirability of stable and predictable allocations of revenue as stipulated under Article 203.
“The National Treasury has allocated revenue to National Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for programmes that fall under the devolved functions specified under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution. This contradicts the provisions of Article 203 (l)(d) on the need to ensure that County governments are able to perform their functions. Further, these allocations lead to duplication of functions,” Said Mr Barasa.
The COG concerns comes hours after 200 MPs walked out of an induction seminar in Mombasa in protest over the delayed release of NG-CDF funds.
The parliamentarians from all political parties vowed to paralyze parliamentary sessions in Nairobi until their pleas were heard.
The MPs have received Sh7 million only, of which Sh2 million goes to administration issues and Sh5 million for bursaries.
The MPs said they expected at least Sh50 million (for bursaries) in their NG-CDF accounts terming their walkout genuine and not political.
They said its absurd to use billions to host MPs in the five-star hotel, yet thousands of children are at home due to lack of school fees.
“The Cabinet Secretary Treasury Prof Njuguna Ndung’u has been promising that we will have the NG CDF but so far no monies have been remitted to the accounts, yet we are here using billions of monies in this hotel. Yet our students and their parents who voted for us are at home. This defeats the purpose of elected as MPs,” said Timothy Kipchumba MP Marakwet West.
Also read: Uganda Police arrest Arsenal fans celebrating win over Manchester United