Author: Japheth Ogila
AfricaPress-Kenya: The Council of Governors (CoG) has revealed that the revenue sources of counties ran dry after the governors were instructed to suspend collection of taxes in the wake of Covid-19 in the country.
In a statement signed by council chair Wycliffe Oparanya, and released on Thursday evening; the governors have lamented the cash crunch that has affected the counties due to poor collection occasioned by the pandemic.
It partly states: “In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, the County Governments were however requested not to collect all the taxes as required by the law in view of the effects of the pandemic on the economy. As a result, the counties have not been operating optimally. This means that whatever is collected by the counties is unable to sustain their operations.”
The counties depend on funding from the national treasury and local taxes as secondary sources of funds for sustenance.
The council on Wednesday filed a suit against the senators over the revenue deadlock as they sought to have the revenue sharing bill passed to enable counties to get the funds. To this course, the county chiefs have appealed to those interested in seeing funds being released to the counties to support their move.
“The Counties are faced with a crisis that is not of their making and we believe those institutions causing the crisis and those that would have mitigated the damage must join us in Court to resolve the crisis,” the council notes.
The county bosses, through their lawyer Issa Mansur, lamented the cash crisis that they said threatened to paralyse operations at the counties.
“Most operations at the counties have grounded and unless the Treasury and the Controller of Budget release the funds, there will be no services available to the public and county governments will be forced to release all their employees who have not been paid salaries,” Mansur said.
The council attacked the senators in a separate statement released on Wednesday, September 16, where they accused the lawmakers of failing to pass the revenue bill. The governors argued that the senate had failed its mandate and had woken up late from deep slumber years after realising that the bill should have been passed.
“It seems the senators have woken up from their slumber that they have been in for three years. They knew about the formula three years ago, yet they have continuously treated the country to theatrics during the ten times they have convened to consider the formula,” the CoG said.
The CoG has also not spared other state institutions involved in the processing of funds to the counties. It singled out the National Assembly, Attorney-General’s office and the Controller of Budget for being a stumbling block to the process.
“County Governments are yet to receive their equitable share of revenue and the concerned institutions including the National Treasury, the Controller of Budget, the Attorney General, the Senate and National Assembly have not authorised the release of our funds. Instead, they have advanced a myriad excuse which defeats the constitutional intent of transferring the equitable share of revenue without delays.”
On Thursday, 12-member Senate Committee tasked with solving the revenue impasse was holed up in a meeting to find the remedy. This comes at a time the council ordered counties to stop providing non-essential services due to the crisis. Services affected include in-patient healthcare.
