Funds delay paralyses govt operations

Government functions have been paralysed following failure by Treasury to send money to all districts countrywide.

“It is true there is a delay not only to the district treasuries but all government institutions,” said the government spokesman, Dr Alfred Mutua, during a media briefings at Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi on Thursday.

Provincial commissioners, district commissioners, departmental heads and police were unable to fuel vehicles or pay those who have been supplying goods and providing services.

A DC who sought anonymity said each of them receive Sh600,000 per quarter but no money had been remitted since June last year. Departments of education, health, agriculture and registration of persons, among others, were crippled.

The secretary-general of the Union of Kenya Civil Servants, Mr Tom Odege, said services cannot be rendered because the government is broke. “The government is broke and we fear that even salaries might not be paid soon,” he said.

The government has also not released Authority to Incur Expenses to police bosses around the country, threatening to halt security operations.

Senior police officers in charge of vast areas in Nyanza, Western, Coast, parts of Rift Valley, Eastern and Central provinces have not received this year’s first quota allocation of funds. Each police boss receives about Sh1.5 million every three months.

Dr Mutua said the government had merely introduced new stringent measures to curb wastage of public funds.

Reported by Kenneth Ogosia, Dominic Wabala and Casper Waithaka