Africa-Press – Kenya. President William Ruto has promised that his government will clear the remaining Sh64 billion owed to counties before July 1. The President said his administration will try to pay another Sh30 billion by next week after paying Sh33 billion last week.
Ruto promised that the government is on course to clear the money owed to devolved units before the next financial year. The President rubbished claims by the opposition that he is fighting devolution by withholding money meant to fund counties.
“I am the biggest supporter of devolution, I want to promise counties that we are going to pay all your dues, we paid Sh33 billion last week, and we will try to pay 30 billion by next week and we see if we can clear the balance,” he said.
The President, however, cautioned that he will not be pushed to borrow more so that he can settle the remaining money owed to county governments. He said he had a discussion with governors and agreed that he will settle the arrears but not through borrowing.
“When governors were pushing me a lot, I told them that let me plan, I paid last week, next week I will pay the remaining amount but I will not borrow to pay that,” he said.
Speaking in Kirinyaga county on Tuesday the President insisted that he will pay the debts owed to counties using revenue collected locally. “Tell them [governors] to work with me slowly so that we can settle the money bit by bit,” he said.
County governments have been warning of a possible shutdown due to lack of funds to run their operations. Before the government released the Sh33 billion last week, counties were owed Sh94 billion.
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