The National Treasury has said it will release Sh39 billion to the county governments by Friday in what is seen as an attempt to avert the looming shut down of the devolved units.
CS Ukur Yatani told Senators on Tuesday his ministry will endeavour to disburse the funds to clear April and part of March arrears.
"We will endeavour to send Sh38 billion to Sh39 billion by the end of Friday," he told the Senate Finance and Budget Committee.
Yatani spoke a day after governors threatened to shutdown down the counties next Thursday if they did not receive the cash by Friday.
Through Council of Governors, the county bosses said the Treasury was yet to release Sh102 billion to the 47 small governments with only two weeks left to the end of the financial year.
The CS attributed the delays to the cash collection challenges that has been hit hard by the Covid 19 pandemic.
He refuted claims that his Ministry has unfairly treated counties when it comes to the disbursement of funds.
The county chiefs had lamented frequent delays to disburse the cash in what they say has crippled operations and delivery of critical services to residents.
The county bosses said Treasury has not released the cash for up to six months now to counties like Nairobi.
CoG chairman Martin Wambora (Embu) said the Treasury is yet to release Sh102.6 billion to the 47 devolved units, with only two weeks left to the end of the financial year.
As such, they have given an ultimatum to the Treasury to release the cash by Friday or they shut down the counties next week.
