Wajir County Governor Ahmed Abdullahi pokes holes in Treasury report on unspent county funds

By Standard Reporter

Kenya: The National treasury’s contention that county governments were unable to absorb their quarterly allocations have elicited harsh criticism from Mr Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamad the Wajir County Governor and the Chairman of the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee of the Council of Governors.

He says the timing was wrong and goes against the letter and sprit of the Constitution’s Section 54 of the County Government Act and read mischief by shadowy vested interests driving an agenda against the doctrine of separation of powers, devolution and common sense.

Mr Mohamad told The Standard that the Treasury should be referring to the previous allocation from August 2013.

Speaking for Wajir County, he said there was Sh450 million Development component for August, of which the Recurrent allocation was Sh100 million. A balance of Sh350 million is yet to be remitted to the county.

Firstly, it is not possible to absorb this amount in a single month because the Treasury demands transparency and prudence and therefore the procurement process must be followed.

“No county wants to circumvent the law and must follow the entire process of project design, 21-day tendering, procurement period waiting of two weeks and eventually pay on completion,” he says.

Secondly, on the recurrent side, the national government still meeting “payroll costs on our behalf and which we shall reimburse it. There are reconciliation issues on the headcount of staff seconded from various ministries, and theses numbers just came in this week,” Mr Mohamad added.

Thirdly, he termed the manner in which the National Treasury went about the issue as “sensationalizing headlines to paint county governments in poor light. It is wrong for the Treasury CS to claim the money is suffering interest as it is loan money because this are funds from the Equalisation Fund that national government only parts with Sh210 billion. What part are they borrowing since the Taxman announced that he had met all his revenue targets for the year?” Mohamad posed.

He felt the timing is wrong and was calculated to incite the public against county governments by opening a new battlefront against governors in what is perceived as the wider war against the calls for devolution and a Senate fighting to find relevance since the last parliament stripped it of any powers to make meaningful contribution to devolution.