Governors say won’t inherit local authorities debts

What you need to know:

They argue that some of the debts accrued were from the national government ministries operating at the local level before devolution.
The new stand by the governors is likely to spark another row with the transition agency, which has accused the county chiefs of trying to usurp its role.
Governors say that accruing all the debts from the local authorities would burden them.

Governors have rejected the push by the Transition Authority (TA) for the counties to shoulder all debts from the defunct local authorities.

They argue that some of the debts accrued were from the national government ministries operating at the local level before devolution.

A defiant Council of Governors said Thursday it was wrong for the Kinuthia Wamwangi-led team to force them to take up all the debts from the 175 defunct local authorities.

“It is erroneous to think that county governments are successors of the former local authorities in every aspect. The authority also needs to be clear on liabilities of these defunct units,” said Council of Governors’ finance committee chairman Wycliffe Oparanya.

The new stand by the governors, which they also took last week during a full council meeting in Naivasha, is likely to spark another row with the transition agency, which has accused the county chiefs of trying to usurp its role.

“Governors should know, and we have made this position very clear, that they are either successors of all assets and liabilities from the defunct local authorities or the successors of nothing,” said Mr Wamwangi Thursday.

The TA boss also accused the governors of double-speak.

“It is insincere of the governors to want to take over the assets from the defunct authorities but try to run away from the debts. They are successors of all these,” he said. The dispute over liabilities played out again early this year when the authority did an inventory of all the debts and assets owned by the former county and municipal councils.

This was after a TA unaudited report showed that counties had in total inherited more than Sh143 billion current assets including cash while accumulating over Sh62 billion as liabilities by March 2013.

The audit also showed that the 175 authorities collectively had 2,462 vehicles, 7,741 buildings and 40,815 parcels of land.

Mr Wamwangi Thursday told the Business Daily that the full report on the debts and assets to be transferred to counties would soon be ready, from the inventory taken early this year.

A section of governors and MCAs protested over the unaudited report saying some debts and liabilities in the report were “too much”.

And Thursday, Mr Oparanya said that accruing all the debts from the local authorities would burden them.

“We need guidance from the concerned authorities so that counties are not overburdened by liabilities that had been previously incurred by the national government ministries,” said the Kakamega governor.

But Mr Wamwangi has insisted that his position on the assets and liabilities left behind by the defunct local authorities was supported by the Attorney-General Githu Muigai.

“The position is clear and we are not going to relent. Governors must be sincere and take up liabilities and assets alike,” he said.