That we are getting reports counties are yet to receive money two months into a financial year is not new.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
What could be new is why this situation has to persist more than 10 years into the new dispensation that brought devolution as a system of government.
The success of county governments should not depend on the whims of somebody.
The constitution, which laid the framework for devolution, states that the national government will coexist with the county governments in an interdependent manner.
This, therefore, means that what belongs to the county governments should flow to the county governments.
In the same respect, what belongs to the national government should flow to the central government without any favour or preference by anyone.
Failure to release monies belonging to the county governments undermines devolution, and by extension undermines the people of Kenya.
Counties, to a large extent, depend on money flowing from the exchequer and other external sources. Internal revenue and income sources for the county governments are very sketchy.
To change the situation for the better, I would vouch for the Kenya Revenue Authority to step in and help counties bolster their collections. The authority can help push up collections at the county level so that more revenue is collected.
There is also a lot of revenue leakage. This is not because of a lack of management but the challenges with the system that is being used to collect and manage the collections.
If revenue systems are automated, and should we achieve this 100 per cent, counties will collect more, just as we have seen with those that have automated.
Automation is the way to go. Counties should focus on that to collect more so that even if there is a delay, they have something to fall back on.
They can bank on the well-managed collections.
This, together with the reliefs in law which allow for flexible spending, can help address this perennial woe…CONTINUE READING>>
