Kalonzo warns against Treasury plan to place county funds under single account

Following Cabinet's approval in 2024, the TSA is a unified structure of government bank accounts that will consolidate all public funds into a single centralised system. 

As Kenya marked the 16th anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution, Kalonzo said the country had a strong constitutional framework but continued to struggle to implement it.

“We have a first-class Constitution and second-class compliance. The document itself is not our problem. Our problem is the distance between the text we celebrate every August and the conduct we tolerate for the other eleven months," Kalonzo stated. 

The former vice president, who was among the principals present at Uhuru Park during the promulgation of the Constitution on August 27, 2010, accused the national government of failing to consistently release funds to counties on time.

He said counties were often forced to wait for months for funds despite Article 219 of the Constitution requiring that money due to county governments be transferred without undue delay and without deductions.

The Wiper leader argued that the delays had forced some county governments to borrow from commercial banks to finance operations and settle obligations.

Citing figures from the Controller of Budget, he said counties had accumulated Ksh.163.74 billion in pending bills as of December 2025, up from Ksh.128.94 billion four years earlier. 

He said Nairobi County accounted for Ksh.81.79 billion of the pending bills, while public hospitals were also awaiting Ksh.26.87 billion in claims from the Social Health Authority.

Kalonzo questioned the logic of allowing the National Treasury to control all county revenues when it had struggled to release the constitutionally guaranteed equitable share on schedule.

“A Treasury that has failed for four years to release the 15 per cent equitable share on schedule cannot be trusted to hold a county's entire revenue and determine, week by week, what a governor may spend,” he stated. 

He maintained that the Constitution already provides mechanisms for dealing with counties accused of financial impropriety, noting that Article 225 allows for the suspension of funds in cases of serious breaches, subject to parliamentary approval and public justification.

The Wiper leader renewed his call for the equitable share allocated to counties to be increased from the current constitutional minimum of 15 per cent to 35 per cent.

He said a future administration under his leadership would publish and gazette a monthly county disbursement schedule, with the national government bearing the cost of interest arising from delayed transfers.

He also said functions should not be transferred from the national government to counties without adequate funding.

However, he challenged county governments to uphold accountability and prudent management of public resources, saying governors must maintain clear audit trails for the funds entrusted to them.