- The Treasury is accusing the Senate of dragging its feet on the approval of the cash disbursement schedule to allow it release the money.
- However, the Senate has shifted the blame to the Treasury, saying the ministry is only giving excuses for its own blunders.
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The Senate and Treasury are embroiled in a blame game over the cash crunch in the counties after two months without funds.
The counties have not received a penny this financial year, landing them in a crisis that threatens to disrupt their operations.
The Treasury is accusing the Senate of dragging its feet on the approval of the disbursement schedule to allow it to release the money.
“The Treasury has not released the money for counties. They (Treasury) are saying the disbursement schedule has not been approved by the Senate,” Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said.
However, the Senate has shifted the blame to the Treasury, saying the ministry led by CS Ukur Yatani is only giving excuses for its own blunders.
Senate Budget and Finance committee chairman Charles Kibiru said his panel received the schedule from the Treasury "too late".
“We received the schedule on August 5, 2021, at noon and rushed to table it the same day because the house was recessing. This was after the secretariat persistently pushed the Treasury to release the schedule in vain,” Kibiru said.
The Kirinyaga senator said the Treasury forwarded the schedule after it was found that the Senate was breaking for a month-long recess.
The county cash disbursement schedule is a document that provides for monthly releases to the devolved units.
The Public Finance Management Act, 2012, provides that the Treasury shall prepare the schedule and submit it to the Senate for approval not later than May 30 of every year.
The law states that the Treasury shall—at the beginning of every month and in any event not later than the 15th day of the month—disburse monies to county governments for the expenditure of the following month.
“The disbursement referred to in subsection (6) shall be done in accordance with a schedule prepared by the National Treasury in consultation with the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council, with the approval of the Senate, and published in the Gazette, as approved, not later than May 30, in every year,” the Act reads.
While blaming the Treasury for the delay, Senate Minority chief whip Mutula Kilonzo Jr, a member of the House Finance committee, said the approval of the schedule is a mere formality that cannot stop the Treasury from releasing cash.
“Provided the Division of Revenue Bill and County Allocation of Revenue Bill have been approved and signed into law, nothing stops the Treasury from releasing money,” he argued.
The Division of Revenue Bill divides the revenues generated nationally between the 47 county governments and the national government.
County Allocation of Revenue, on the other hand, splits among the counties the cash provided in the Division of Revenue Bill
In the current financial year, the counties were allocated Sh370 billion in shareable revenue.
On Wednesday, Nyakango said the counties are relying on their ‘savings’ from the last financial year to pay salaries—provided they declare the expenditure as cash carried forward.
“The counties are supposed to get money for two months, July and August but so far they have not got anything since the beginning of the new financial year."