Governors to sue Treasury for not releasing Sh280bn

Governors will sue the National Government this week in an attempt to compel it to surrender funds meant for devolved functions.

The Council of Governors will be represented by lawyers Paul Muite and Ahmednasir Abdullahi, said Mr Peter Munya, its chairman.

Funds meant for water, roads and agriculture functions were still being held in National Government coffers, he said Sunday.

County governments are demanding Sh280 billion from the National Government, according to the chairman, who is also the Meru governor.

Failure to release the monies, he said, had crippled counties’ development plans.

“We have decided to use legal means to get the money meant for the counties,” he said during a fundraiser at Mikinduri Catholic Church in Tigania East.

“The governors will push until that money is released as we cannot do our mandated functions without the funds.”

He also said governors would continue with the Pesa Mashinani campaign seeking an increase in funds allocated to county governments.

However, the campaign should not be misconstrued to mean that they were fighting the government, he added.

“We are not in any way pushing them to give us their money, but that which rightfully belongs to the counties,” he said.

Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti echoed Mr Munya’s sentiments, saying the county bosses had charted a common front in ensuring counties are well funded.

“ We are fully behind our chairman,” he said.

POLIO VACCINATION

Meanwhile, Mr Munya asked Kenyans to take their children for vaccination against polio, despite the Catholic Church asking them to boycott the drive over safety concerns.

He said the vaccine was not harmful as claimed by the church.

“Whoever blocks the vaccination is violating the rights of children,” he said, asking its opponents to “stop misleading Kenyans”.

Nearly six million children in 32 counties are targeted for the vaccination after a risk analysis in January singled them to be most at risk.

The study showed that nearly 66 per cent of the population, particularly children, were at the highest risk of infection.

The campaign will run in two phases, from August 1 to 5 and from August 29 to September 2.

Meanwhile, governors have accused the Auditor-General of misleading the public in his report on public expenditure. 

Governor Munya Sunday said the latest report had failed to include responses from county governments to audit questions raised against them.

He said the failure to include their responses made the report unbalanced against the regional governments.

“The Auditor-General failed to include responses from accounting officers in counties and went ahead to publish the report,” he told the Nation in a phone interview.

Additional reporting by Kennedy Kimanthi