Economy

Row brews on Rotich donor deals for counties

rotich

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich. FILE PHOTO | NMG

A row is brewing over control of donor funds after a minister said governors can only access the money through the national government.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said donors want to deal with a country, not a devolved unit, when channeling funds including conditional grants.

“There are governors who want to deal with donors on their own as if counties are a country on their own,” he said during the second annual Legislative Summit, in Mombasa.

The conditional grants meant to help counties deal with health, water and infrastructure, he said, can only be released through relevant ministry. 

He dismissed claims that  counties were being frustrated through little and delayed funding.

He said counties had made little effort to raise their own revenue and those trying were not meeting their set projections resulting to cases of pending bills, for projects that were budgeted for, but cannot be implemented due to inadequate funds. 

“Leaking revenue is still an issue, all money must go to the County Revenue Fund” Mr Rotich said.