Senators urge governors to prudently utilise funds allocated to counties

Senators have called on the governors to prudently utilise funds allocated to counties.

Senate Deputy Kathuri Murungi, on Tuesday said the county bosses should responsibly utilise funds recently allocated to counties.

Murungi who is also the Senate Liaison Committee chairperson, was speaking during a retreat in Eldoret.

The retreat brings together all chairs of Senate Committees.

Murungi highlighted the Senate's significant role in increasing the allocation for counties to Sh400.1 billion, up from Sh385 billion for the 2024/25 financial year.

"The increment though still below proposed target, solidifies and cements the role of the Senate as the protector of devolution as envisaged by the Constitution," Murungi said.

"We have increased the funds by Sh15 billion and we want to see service to the people. To whom much is given, much is expected. I wish the Council of Governors representative was here so that we read the riot act to them," he added.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who was the keynote speaker at the retreat urged the Senate to put in place mechanisms for receiving corruption reports from county-level corruption prevention committees.

"A mechanism must be established so that corruption prevention reports from all counties reach the Senate for deliberation to see whether there is an attempt to fight corruption in counties," Mudavadi said.

Mudavadi assured that his office will work closely with Parliament to achieve its legislative agenda.

He said that his office has developed a liaison framework that seeks to anchor and augment the contemporary liaison relationship between the two arms of Government.

The liaison framework, he stated, provides an effective mechanism to ensure the appearance of Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and other senior ranks of the executive before the Senate plenary and committee sittings.

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot urged Committee chairs to diligently perform their duties for the benefit of Kenyans.

He specifically called on the Senate Committee on Health to find ways of standardising health services and the treatment of doctors in counties.

"The Committee on Health should lead us in discussing how to stabilise the health situation in all the 47 counties," Cheruiyot said.

On his part, Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo also called on governors to effectively use the allocated funds to them and avoid wastage.

"Senators have played their role and fought for an increase of the shareable revenue to Sh400.1 billion and therefore governors must use that money towards development of their counties," he added.

The deputy speaker underscored the commitment of the Senate in being keen to listen about issues that arise in the implementation of the county budgets and the proposals that require their intervention.

This, he said, will ensure that there is value for money for every single coin that has been channeled to the devolved units.

"We will be seeking to persuade the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee to expedite the transfer of remaining devolved functions to the county governments, counties must equally demonstrate their capacity to deliver services to the people," he said.

Last week, the Senate and National Assembly through a mediation committee reached an agreement on the division of revenue share allocating Sh400.1 billion to counties for the 2024/2025 financial year, which is Sh15 billion more than the previous year.