Don’t politicise pending bills order, governors warned
David Musundi
Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa have warned governors against politicising the directive to clear pending bills.
The two leaders attributed the financial crisis in some counties to failure by the governors to follow the law.
For the counties to avoid experiencing cash crunches, Lusaka said, the governors have to pay contractors.
“Let us follow the law. Governors are to blame for the financial crisis because they have not cleared pending bills to facilitate disbursement of more funds from the national government,’’ he said.
Speaking in Kitale during the burial of the late Vice President Kijana Wamalwa’s son, William Samuel Wamalwa Big, the Devolution CS warned that counties that fail to clear pending bills will not receive any monies at all.
“You have to clear the pending bills in order to receive the allocations from the National government,’’ the CS told the Council of Governors chair Wycliffe Oparanya, who was in attendance.
Trans Nzoia Governor Patrick Khaemba, however, claimed withholding of the funds is a scheme by the State to scuttle devolution.
Oparanya also protested the move to withhold funds from counties, saying it will make service delivery impossible.
