The Council of Governors (CoG) has threatened to shut down operations in all counties in 14 days over delayed disbursement of equitable shares by the National Treasury.

According to CoG chairperson Anne Waiguru, the national treasury is yet to release a total of sh 94.35 billion to counties, a move that has triggered stalled operations due to a cash crunch.

 “We, therefore, call upon the CS National Treasury to immediately release the Ksh.94.35 billion owed to County Governments without any further delay”

“By dint of this, the Council of Governors hereby issues a 14 days’ notice to shut down Counties if February, March, and April arrears are not released within two weeks,”  CoG chair Anne Waiguru told journalists on Monday.

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The Sh 94.35 billion owed to all 47 counties includes sh 31.45 billion for February, Sh.29.6 billion for March, and Ksh.33.3 billion for April.

The county bosses said the four-month delay is unprecedented in the history of devolution and negates the spirit of the meeting held in Naivasha between President William Ruto and the governors.

“We also notify the citizens of Kenya that due to the failure of the National Treasury to disburse the funds, County Governments will not be able to deliver services as expected,” added Waiguru.

The governors also expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which the Senate voted on the Division of Revenue Bill, 2023, last week.

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The Senate rejected an amendment that would have seen the devolved units get Sh.407 billion equitable shares in the FY 2003/24.

“This is a new low for a House of Parliament Constitutionally mandated to represent the Counties and serve to protect devolution. We note with concern that in the history of devolution, the Senate has never voted against the spirit of devolution in as far as the increase of resources is concerned.

The governors called upon the Senate to uphold their primary mandate that County Governments are well-resourced in order to perform their functions optimally.