Economy

Counties’ funding down  Sh17bn in period to April 

treasury

Treasury building. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Treasury allocations to counties in the 10 months to April dropped Sh17 billion, highlighting the struggle of the devolved units to stay afloat.

The latest Kenya Gazette notice shows that counties received Sh193 billion at the end of April, compared to Sh210 billion in a similar period a year ago.

The drop comes in a period when governors have faced a cash crunch that has led to delay in suppliers’ pay, workers’ salaries and a freeze on projects.

This was worse in the first four months of the financial year as the Treasury failed to allocate funds to counties due to contradictions in the Senate’s approved disbursement schedule and the cash allocation law approved by President Uhuru Kenyatta. At the close of the first quarter that ended in September, none of the 47 devolved units had received their allocations, which compelled the Treasury to loan them Sh20.3 billion to pay workers’ salaries.

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In the 10 months to April, Nairobi got slightly over Sh11 billion, topping the list of counties with highest allocations, followed by Kiambu’s Sh7.7 billion, Kakamega, Kilifi and Turkana each received slightly over Sh6 billion.

But Kiambu and Nairobi are among the few counties whose allocation increased by Sh1.4 billion and Sh100 million respectively. 

Delays in release of money means economic activities might grind to a halt as workers go without pay and payments to suppliers are frozen.

Treasury is supposed to allocate the counties Sh306.2 billion, meaning it has two months to transfer Sh113.2 billion before the end of the financial year in June.

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