Blame games rage over county funds

The controversy over who is to blame for the delay in financing the functions of county governments is far from over.

In advertisements in the media on Sunday, National Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge absolved the ministry of blame, saying county governments had enough funds in their accounts at the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to pay the salaries of staff, including health workers.

But Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya accused the Treasury of using the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis ) to limit county governments’ access to the devolved funds.

Mr Munya said the system shuts down centrally before the end of any financial year, thus dictating how the money meant for counties is spent.

“Some of the counties that are said to have encountered difficulties in paying salaries had significant balances in their accounts at the CBK. The amounts are enough to pay their salary bills for May 2015,” says a statement published in local newspapers yesterday. Mr Thugge maintained that the Treasury has been disbursing the cash allocated to county governments in the financial year 2014/2015.

He said it was doing so in line with the gazetted disbursement schedule.

ENOUGH TIME

“As at June 16, 2015, a total of Sh196.9 billion, or 86 per cent of the disbursements due to county governments in 2014/2015, had been released to county government accounts,” says the statement.

Last week, governors said the funds should have been disbursed on April 15 to allow enough time to process the cash and distribute it for different county functions.

But with the disbursement of funds taking place close to the end of the financial year (June 30), governors, who have confirmed receipt of the funds, say the cash would not be of much help. Counties are expected to report the balance of expenditure in dailies at the end of every financial year. This, according to the governors, would give the impression that they had the money all along.

Yesterday, Mr Thugge reiterated the Treasury’s commitment to making devolution work. He said funding to counties had increased from Sh210 billion in 2013/2014 to Sh242.5 billion in 2014/2015.

The PS urged county governments to prioritise payment of salaries to avoid crises in the future.

Mr Munya wondered whether counties had financial autonomy by plugging into the Treasury’s system, instead of directly getting their money to spend as they budget.

He spoke on Saturday at the Meru National Park, which delegates had visited after attending the county’s international conference.

INDEPENDENCE

He argued that Ifmis was designed for a centralised system of government and it does not ensure the independence of counties.

Mr Munya, who is also the Meru governor, revisited the issue when he addressed journalists in Vihiga County after a charity marathon in Mbale yesterday. He said counties would invest in their own financial management system.

Mr Munya, who was accompanied by governors Isaac Ruto (Bomet) and Moses Akaranga (Vihiga) said the current financial system of receiving county funds from the National Treasury was unfair and challenging to counties.

He said the system had stalled services in the devolved units, adding it was being used by the national government to sabotage devolution and county governments.

“We are asking the Treasury to release the money on time. Someone is playing with Ifmis to portray us in bad light,” said Mr Ruto.

Reported by Ngare Kariuki, Kennedy Kimanthi, Derick Luvega and Patrick Langat