- Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o also reiterated that this was a problem in his county.
- Nyeri's Mutahi Kahiga, complained that the release of county funds on time seemed not to be the priority of the National Treasury.
Twelve governors have complained that delayed release of exchequer funds and holding of key function by national government ministries were threatening viability of counties.
The lot spoke on Wednesday during the inaugural county peer review process.
They lamented that the fact that some of the devolved functions were still being held in Nairobi, meant monies to be used by the counties remain tied to them, undermining the devolved units.
The peer review process entails the counties comparing their governance approaches, the progress they are making and their observance of the constitution in their management.
Convened by African Union agency Africa Peer Review Mechanism, the governors said while the process of comparing their individual progress on development was important, inherent challenges unique to the developed units must be appreciated.
Led by Nandi’s Stephen Sang, the governors said withholding of funds by ministries as well as structural issues that see well connected individual frustrate development programmes, stand in the way of effective development.
He said getting enough lands for the projects in the counties was a big problem, driving up the development initiatives or scuttling them all together.
“In Nandi, the county headquarters sits on a half an acre of land and some times when you want to implement a development initiative, getting land is a big problem. The cost of getting the land sometimes becomes double the cost of the whole project,” he said, calling on EACC and to intervene.
The import of delayed exchequer release is accumulation of pending bills which drives local entrepreneurs out of business, they said.
Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o also reiterated that this was a problem in his county.
Nyeri's Mutahi Kahiga, complained that the release of county funds on time seemed not to be the priority of the National Treasury, making the counties to stall or fail to have their development projects take off.
“In Nyeri, all my own source revenues go to sustaining the staff, leaving the sharable revenue for development, but it comes late and in small bits,” he said.
APRM’s Kenya secretariat CEO Samori Okwiya said the review, carried out in a closed session at KICC, focused on assessing the devolved units’ compliance with key constitutional principles. this are accountability, rule of law, transparency, inclusivity and democracy.
The process’ chairman Eliud Wabukhala said benchmarking was crucial in ensuring that county administrations were held to account for the enormous resources they receive through devolved funding.
Earlier in the year, the Kenyan secretariat led by Okwiya announced it will launch county peer review mechanism, with various devolved administrations benchmarking with each other.
The APRM did a survey on citizen’s perception of performance by their county administrations in 400 wards across 12 counties and the results was discussed during the closed summit.
Data on citizens’ perceptions was collected from 400 electoral wards in 12 counties of Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nyeri, Machakos, Makueni, Mombasa, Siaya, Busia, Vihiga and Kakamega.
The data was incorporated into the respective counties Self-Assessment Reports.