Release Sh42 billion equitable share, CoG urges Treasury
The Council of Governors ( COG) has called on the National Treasury to fast track the disbursement of the outstanding balance of Sh42.26 billion equitable share to ensure smooth service delivery in counties.
Chairperson Governor Martin Wambora said the devolved units have so far received Sh140.89 billion for the 2021/22 financial year.
“As of today, the National Treasury has disbursed a total of Sh140.89 billion which is 38 per cent of the total equitable share allocation to counties.
All 47 county governments have received their allocation for the months of July, August, September and October, and 29 counties for the month of November 2021 as per the approved disbursement schedule,” Wambora said.
He, however, pointed out that there has been an improvement by the National Treasury on timely release of funds to the counties compared to the previous financial years.
“This has in turn improved budget absorption and enhanced continuity of service delivery to citizens.
We urge the National Treasury to accelerate the disbursement of the outstanding balance of Sh42.26 billion to enable counties to implement their programmes.
This includes Sh12.66 billion owed to 18 counties for the month of November and Sh29.6 billion owed to 47 counties for the month of December 2021,” he said.
The Council has in the past decried slow disbursement of the funds which it said affects service delivery and interferes with the response to the global Covid-19 pandemic which has been in the country for the last 2 years now.
Giving the update of the ongoing administration of Covid-19 booster jabs, he noted that a total of 13,218 people have received the jab since the exercise was rolled out on January 1.
According to Wambora, 4.1 million people are now fully vaccinated across the 47 counties with the healthcare workers comprising 221,893; 82.1 per cent of all the healthcare workers in the country.
The data shows that 191,275 security officers are now fully vaccinated, 366,945 teachers with the focus being on vaccinating more teachers as schools reopen this week.
Similarly, 16,054 inmates have been fully vaccinated, 21,130 teens aged between the age of 15 and 18 and people aged above 50 were 770,567.
“The new strain of Coronavirus is highly transmissible. In order for us to reduce the spread, we must put in place stringent measures to help fight the virus,” Wambora said.
