DP Ruto tells governors to clear huge debts

Deputy President William Ruto has challenged governors to develop mechanisms of clearing massive debts in counties.

The debts had accumulated to Sh99 billion by the end of September last year.

“The county assets and liabilities report shows that as of September 2017, county governments had pending bills in excess of Sh99 billion. That is a solid statement,” he said when he presided over the closing ceremony of the Fifth Annual Devolution Conference at Kakamega School yesterday.

REVENUE TARGETS
The office of the Controller of Budget has in its report cited the inability to meet revenue targets, reckless spending and irregular hiring of staff by governors for the debts accumulated over the last four years.

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo attributed the problem to counties over-estimating their revenue collections and then including them in their annual budgets and going ahead to procure yet they do not have the money.

“All counties are not meeting revenue targets yet when they prepare budgets, they budget as if they will collect all that money,” Ms Odhiambo said when she appeared before the Senate’s Finance Committee early this year.

MANAGEMENT
Mr Ruto asked the county chiefs to borrow a leaf from the national government and live within their means.

“We are proud because the national government is living within its means. We have no balances due to counties.

"There may be delays but, at the end, we disburse the money once we get it. We have no arrears,” he said.

Governors Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega), Joyce Laboso (Bomet), Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga)and Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua) also concurred with the DP over the pending bills challenge.

“Pending bills is a problem to counties and it will not end unless cash flow is addressed,” Mr Oparanya said.

WARD FUND
Meanwhile, members of County Assemblies urged county chiefs, senators and MPs at the conference to support the ward fund initiative.

Through the County Assemblies Forum, the MCAs said the County Ward Development Equalisation Fund Bill will ensure rapid development at the grassroots.

The bill seeks to establish a kitty for promoting development in the wards and to set up a framework for coordinating development projects.

Additional reporting by Justus Ochieng