The Council of Governors now says they will not accept any move to reduce the counties shareable revenue as proposed to Ksh 380 billion from an initial agreement of Ksh 400 billion, saying the move would cripple counties.
According to the Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru, counties have been struggling with the monies given with a ballooning urge for development and thus, any move to reduce what has already been approved would have a serious ripple effect to counties.
Waiguru, who spoke in Mukothima ward of Tharaka Constituency in Tharaka Nithi ward where she officially opened the Ura Gate cultural festival which is in its 6th year, said the proposal to reduce allocation to Ksh 380 billion and not the baseline for last year, of Ksh 385 billion was tantamount to clawing back on devolution despite the progress made.
“We cannot allow anything less than the Ksh 385 billion we got last year. Actually, we want the lowest amount given to counties to be at Ksh 400 billion,” said Waiguru.
“How will we run services at the counties which require money? Services such as health, water…..” she added
On his part, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki has warned of an impending halt in the counties and a probability of a wave of industrial actions if counties are not capacitated enough.
According to Governor Njuki, additional monies to counties was to cater for increased salaries for health care workers, county staff and development and thus this reduction would not sit well with running county operations.
This comes at a time the ministry in charge of civil servants has announced a pay rise.
Consequently, the union for county workers has issued a 21 day strike notice
