On Friday, March 20, the council of governors has scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss a number of matters, including KSh 25 billion in budget cuts from the Treasury.
The treasury is being questioned by county leaders over budget cuts that they claim will negatively affect donor-funded initiatives.
The Senate should reject the budget cuts and insist on adjustments before approving the final budget, according to the governors’ demands.
Ahmed Abdullahi, the chair of the CoG and the governor of Wajir, also brought up the controversial Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF), a major point of contention with lawmakers.
The governor claims that because the RMLF is the focus of an ongoing legal battle, the sole compromise made with MPs was to keep the fund out of the budget cuts.
Since road development is under their purview, the governors are emphatic that counties should have access to the RMLF. Abdullahi also maintained that the national and local governments ought to split the fuel fee, which pays for road upkeep, fairly.
Governors say budget cuts have impacted several grants, including the Water and Sanitation Development Project (WSDP) grant, the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) allocation, the Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP) grant, and the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) grant.
Treasury CS John Mbadi also commented on the standoff between MPs and governors over the Road Maintenance Levy Fund, calling it regrettable because it was preventing counties from receiving further funding.
