Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua says counties will receive their April and May disbursements by 19th of June 2023.
DP Gachagua says the National Treasury has committed without guarantee that the devolved units will receive their April funds by end of this week and consequently for May by end of next week.
Speaking after chairing the intergovernmental budget and economic council, Gachagua has attributed the delays from low uptake of taxes and further committed that the Kenya Kwanza administration is geared to bettering the devolved functions
“We have explained to the governors the strain the National Treasury has been undergoing and given them the commitment to clear the unsettled allocations for April and May before the end of the financial year,” he said.
While drumming up proposals in the finance bill, the second in command has maintained that the state could not afford to borrow loans to finance the counties.
“We will not borrow money for recurrent expenditure. We have a Sh10 trillion debt we are paying and we are not going to incur more to pay salaries,” stated the DP.
Gachagua has also committed to convene another meeting with governors to review the selection of counties that will benefit in the equalization fund.
According to Gachagua, governors whose counties have not been listed to benefit in the fund argue that their counties experience similar climatic conditions to those listed.
“The Equalization Fund Board and the Commission on Revenue Allocation will meet to undertake a holistic approach on the manner in which marginalized counties were identified to ensure fairness and equity in allocation of funds,” said the DP.
The council of Governor finance committee chairman Fernadnes Barasa had threatened to shut down all counties operations this week if the state would not have disbursed the funds.