Many people will not just be surprised, but also disappointed to learn that as the cash-strapped counties struggle to run their operations, there is money lying in accounts that they cannot access.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has made the astounding revelation that these 47 virtually broke devolved units have a total of Sh42 billion lying idle. And he has appealed to the governors to sort out the issues that have led to the financial deadlock with Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o.
The County Revenue Fund (CRF) account is holding Sh42.38 billion, which has yet to be taken up by the county governments. This money could have been used to clear some debts and cater for other recurrent expenditure alongside the current financial disbursement as part of their equitable share of national revenue.
The National Treasury has released Sh31.8 billion to the counties as their share of the national revenue for July 2024. In June, Sh30.8 billion was disbursed.
Cash crunch
It is simply unbelievable that the governors have not seen the need to consult with the Controller of Budget and access the funds in the CRF. CS Mbadi has appealed to them to go for the money and pay salaries and cater for other expenditures.
Only the other day, the Council of Governors warned of a shutdown of county governments due to a cash crunch caused by delay by the national government in releasing funds.
To blame is the failure to enact the County Allocation of Revenue Act and the Division of Revenue Act for the financial year ending June 2025 following the withdrawal of the controversial Finance Bill, 2024. These technicalities should be urgently sorted out to enable disbursements to the counties.
