Speaking during the third devolution conference in Meru on Wednesday, Munya indicated that national institutions have been restructured to take over devolution duties/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 20 – Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya has accused the National Government of not fully supporting County Governments as stipulated in the Constitution.
Speaking during the third devolution conference in Meru on Wednesday, Munya indicated that national institutions have been restructured to take over devolution duties.
He further pointed out that the channelling of monies meant for conditional grants is not enough to sustain the counties.
“The national agencies that were supposed to be restructured are now being re-invented and being renamed. For example renaming of the National Water Pipeline to National Water Conservation and Storage Authority. There is another institution called National Construction Authority,” he stated. “When you see a new word like authority being introduced, you need to be careful.”
He stressed the need for the equitable sharing of revenue between the National and County Governments to ensure that devolution succeeds fully.
“Key among them that I hear everybody talking about is the idea that counties receive money from the National Government. People ask that National Government has given you money and what have you done with it? I want to tell you that we do not receive money from National Government,” he stated.
He opined that the only money counties receive from the National Government is conditional grants.
“That is money we receive from National Government. But the revenue we receive as shared revenue, is not National Government money,” he said.
He described this as unconstitutional and underscored the need to channel monies directly to the counties.
“The current practice which is unconstitutional is to channel money that is meant for conditional grants through National Ministries. If you look at the Constitution, there is nowhere in the law where money meant for counties whether conditional grants or otherwise is supposed to go through national agencies before the money reaches the county,” he said.
He observed that there are mechanisms that have been put in place to ensure that the funds are utilised properly.
“The money is supposed to go through the National Treasury directly to the counties and then the counties are supposed to account for that money through the accounting agencies that are there, the National Treasury, the National Audit office, the County Assembly and to a very small extent, the Senate,” he said.
“What we really require is to have fidelity to the law so that resources meant for the counties follow the law when they are being disbursed.”
He says following the stipulated laws will ensure that money meant for counties is utilised effectively and efficiently.
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