EDITORIAL: Resolve funding rows – Business Daily

There’s an urgent need to find a long-term solution to the unending squabbles between the National Treasury and counties over disbursement of devolved funds.

Delays in releasing funds to the counties goes against the spirit of the Constitution, which envisaged the 47 units as engines to re-engineer economic growth and development at the grassroots.

Counties need resources to stimulate growth in economic activities, which will in turn spur expansion in own resources (largely property rates and entertainment fees) that have remained more or less stagnant in majority of the units since the onset of devolution nearly seven years ago. Reports that the Council of Governors (CoG) is considering a legal action against the Treasury over delays in releasing conditional grants is a pointer to yet another damper to delivery of devolved services. This coming in the wake of a three-month delay in disbursements of shareable revenue following a dispute between the Senate and National Assembly over Division of Revenue Bill is alarming.

We urge the two statkeholders — the Treasury and CoG — to work on a framework that will ensure seamless flow of resources to the counties.