SAM'S SENSE: A cry for the beloved counties

Tonight, I am worried over the state of our counties. Over the past four months, county Governors have complained of delays in the release of funds by the National Treasury. They have explained that their tribulations that include borrowing from commercial banks to pay salaries and avoid workers unrest. Short-term loans that have come at a cost.

Development projects have been the major casualty with a national absorption rate of 6.9 per cent of the county development budgets by December 2022. In absolute figures, out of combined county development budgets of Ksh.169 billion, only projects worth Ksh.11.65 billion had been financed by the end of the first six months.

And now, counties are yet to receive a penny for the months of January, February and March. Counties are owed Ksh.92.5 billion; soon to rise to Ksh.125 billion by this Saturday.

Yet, the 47 counties were supposed, “to promote social and economic development and the provision of proximate, easily accessible services throughout Kenya;” according to Article 175 of the Constitution.

Counties take charge of very important developmental agenda in the agricultural sector, health services and county infrastructure including roads and street lighting. How are the counties to deliver on this mandate if they receive no funds for the same?

Why are counties being treated as dispensable? Why are they an option? Why are they the obvious casualty when the national government runs into problems with its cash flows?

Article 219 of the Constitution requires that a “county’s share of revenue raised by the national government shall be transferred to the county without undue delay and without deduction.”

The National Treasury published county funds disbursement schedule in June last year for the current financial year, with only one rider, that “adherence on the disbursement schedule is based on the performance of revenue raised nationally.”

I get it, that sometimes revenue targets may not always be met; as is the case currently. But the Kenya Revenue Authority just communicated that it has collected over Ksh.1.5 trillion as of March this year, a score of 93 per cent on target for the first nine months of the financial year. Clearly, the National Treasury had no excuse to delay the funds if it were to follow its own gazette notice.

The sad part is, with the unpredictability of availability of funds at the counties, it is now becoming a battle of wits. There is now selective prioritization of whom to pay when. It is about whom a supplier knows in the county governments’ hierarchy to access their payments.

We are introducing favouritism and corruption where none should exist. The Controller of Budget is on record that there are county governments that have been requisitioning for funds to pay supplier A, but once approved and funds made available, the county ends up paying a totally different supplier and the original supplier can go wait.

We have seen disturbing images of distraught suppliers wailing, complaining of delays in their payments, their businesses collapsing, unable to service already expensive bank loans. Some have been auctioned.

Suppliers tell of painful waiting periods spreading across years. And when they think they are just about to be paid, there’s an election and a regime change. Their payments are relegated to pending bills that are then subjected to Governor-sanctioned audits.

And Yes, the counties are not perfect. They have produced some of the most expensive corruption deals. They have yielded unexplained wealth by county executives through faceless contractors.

A few things to note: Devolution is a major pillar of the Constitution of Kenya. It is not optional. County governments are as important as the national government. County funds are as important as repayment of public debt. The three months delayed disbursements now stand as debt owed to the county governments and by extension the people of Kenya. The money may come at some point, but the waiting by the citizens for quality services will never be paid up. It is lost time.

If we don’t prioritize counties, how then shall we spur economic growth in the rural areas? How shall we expand the national cake for the national government to borrow from or even widen its basis for borrowing?

For the national government, there should never be a choice of what articles of the Constitution to follow, or when. It must be total adherence to the constitutional provisions.