- Ruto on his second day of the Mt Kenya tour, launched projects in Murang'a and Nyeri counties.
- The President assured residents that all development projects initiated by his predecessor in the region would be completed.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto on Thursday revealed why there was a delay in disbursing essential funds to the counties.
Speaking on Thursday in Murang'a, Ruto attributed this delay to the pressure of Eurobond debt payments and the increased allocation of resources to the Ministry of Education for the roll-out of Junior Secondary Schools.
"Si unajua last week nilikuwa nalipa ile deni kubwa niliachiwa na watu wa handshake, lakini sasa nimelipa hiyo," he said.
“Hawa gavana wananiambia hakuna pesa imechelewa lakini nimewaambia kwanza nicheleweshe yenu kidogo nihakikishe watoto wote wako shuleni secondary. Tumetuma capitation huko TVETs na tumetuma huko university ndio sababu watoto waweze kusoma." Ruto
This translates to: Last week I was paying the country's huge debt which I was left for by the handshake people, But now I have paid.
(These governors have told me there is no money and that it has been delayed but I have told them I will delay the disbursement for a while to ensure that all students are in secondary school. We have sent capitation to TVETs and Universities so that students can learn).
However, the President committed to releasing the funds within a week.
Ruto on his second day of the Mt Kenya tour, launched projects in Murang'a and Nyeri counties.
While acknowledging the impact on the devolved units, the President assured residents that all development projects initiated by his predecessor in the region would be completed.
Furthermore, he championed his flagship project, affordable housing, emphasizing its significance as one of his four key strategies to tackle unemployment in the country.
Earlier, the Council of Governors said counties are facing a financial crisis following a prolonged delay by the National Treasury to release funds for the last three months.
CoG chair Anne Waiguru said counties have not paid salaries since November last year, with other counties forced to seek overdrafts to sustain their employees at work.
She said they’re being chocked by a cash crunch that has been occasioned by the National Treasury's failure to release money meant for the devolved units since last year.
“We note with concern the delayed disbursements of equitable share for the last 3 months...as of January 19, 2024, Treasury is yet to release Sh81 billion shillings owed to counties,” Waiguru said.
The Kirinyaga governor said counties can no longer respond effectively to emergencies at the county level and are now at the mercy of the national government.
“Sh 17.4 billion is owed to 24 counties since November, Sh30 billion is owed to 47 counties since December 2023 and Sh32 billion is owed to 47 counties for January 2024,” she added.