Kerrow: Rotich is killing devolution

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has been accused of frustrating devolution by deliberately delaying to release funds to counties.

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday said the National Treasury was required to submit a schedule for transfer of payments from the Consolidated Fund to every county government.

Committee Chairman Billow Kerrow (Mandera, URP), said the National Treasury was expected to transfer funds from the Consolidated Fund to the County Revenue Fund at Central Bank before the 15th of every month.

Mr Kerrow said the National Treasury was behind schedule as the last transfer was done on April 30.

“Let the National Treasury know that it cannot set its own rules. The law must be followed. Treasury cannot lecture county governments on how to use their money,” Mr Kerrow said.

He spoke during the committee’s meeting at County Hall, Nairobi.

He was accompanied by Senators Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni, Wiper), Dr Wilfred Machage (Migori, ODM) and Ms Catherine Mukite (Nominated, Ford-K).

Mr Kerrow said the situation had made some county governments borrow money from banks to meet their financial obligations.

“Treasury must stick to the law. Officials there should stop undermining devolution by unnecessarily delaying the transfer of funds to counties,” he said.

Mr Kilonzo said prioritised projects at the counties stood to suffer if money was not released on time.

He added that failure to release funds for counties was meant to create an impression that senators and governors had failed to manage devolution.

They said provision of critical services was likely to stall if money was not released on time.