Speaker faults governors over county funds

By Robert Kiplagat

Baringo, Kenya: Baringo County Assembly Speaker William Kamket has faulted his counterparts for failing to pressure the national Treasury to release funds for devolved ministries.

The Speaker argued that it was ironical for the governors to agree on the Health and Agriculture dockets be handled at the county level yet the counties have no money to pay employees.

He said the governors should have pressed to be given the Sh40 billion that remained with the national government to take care of the dockets.

Kamket said devolving the dockets without allocating them funds may hinder development as the counties will use a significant proportion of the funds given to them to pay salaries.

“When the governors met the President recently, they only focused on being given the diplomatic plates and flags and did not bother to ask where the counties will obtain the money to pay the employees of the two devolved ministries,” said Kamket.

He added: “If a county like Baringo, for instance, will be spending over Sh750 million to pay the Ministry of Health employees alone, then we might as well forget development, which was the core mandate of devolution.”

Kamket said some counties like those in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands lack sustainable sources of revenue to fund their activities and it will be burdensome for them to be paying ‘devolved salaries’ at the expense of development.

The Assembly Speaker also said the signing of the Division of Revenue Bill into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta denied the counties money to initiate various development projects.