Governors on Monday issued a 14-day strike notice to shut down counties should the National Treasury fail to address delays in the disbursement of funds to Counties.
The Council of Governors(COG) Chairperson Anne Waiguru noted that the only option for the County heads is to shut down operations completely as they cannot pay salaries.
“We, therefore, call upon the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury to immediately release the Kes94.35 billion owed to County Governments without any further delay. By dint of this, the Council of Governors hereby issues a 14-day notice to shut down Counties if February, March, and April arrears are not released within two weeks,” she said.
The Council argues that Kes31.45 billion is owed to the 47 counties fro the February 2023 allocation, Kes29.6 billion for March and Kes33.3 billion for the April allocation.
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According to the chairperson, a lack of funds in counties has delayed the settlement of money owed to contractors and suppliers, accumulating pending bills.
“The four-month delay is unprecedented in the history of devolution and negates the spirit of the meeting held in Naivasha between His Excellency The President and the Governors,” Waiguru said.
On his part, CoG Vice-Chairman Ahmed Abdullahi said some counties, like Nairobi, had not received their share of the revenue for up to six months.
“We are informing Kenyans that we have absolutely no option but to ask workers to go home until such a time when counties are funded,” Abdullahi noted.
The notice comes at a time when medical practitioners across twelve counties are on strike due to the failure of County governments to pay their salaries.
Further, medics in Vihiga, Nyamira, Bomet and Kisumu Counties complain about not receiving their salaries for months.
