Nairobi, Sep 16 (IANS) Services across Kenya’s 44 counties will be paralyzed from Thursday for lack of resources to enable their operations.
Wycliffe Oparanya, chairman of Council of Governors, told county employees to proceed for two weeks’ leave until further notice, Xinhua reported.
Oparanya said county health facilities will not permit any new inpatient admissions, saying there will be minimal outpatient services.
He said this follows the failure by the Senate to unlock the stalemate on the flow of funds to the counties under the revenue sharing formula
“It is therefore not clear when this impasse will be resolved,” he said.
Oparanya said all non-essential services have been hereby suspended and county employees have been advised to proceed on leave for two weeks.
He said the Council of Governors will continue to push for the speedy release of county funds.
The Governors had a week ago threatened a shutdown beginning Wedesday if the money they need is not released by the national government.
Oparanya said county staff have not been paid for three months and the only way to address the mess is by having the money released.
Senators have been locked in a standoff over the sharing of devolved funds among the 47 counties in the last few weeks.
The delay in agreeing on the revenue formula has caused a crisis in all the counties, with services being affected.
The Senate tried ten times to end the stalemate in vain. They had however agreed on the way forward after a meeting with Pesident Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday.
The president promised to add 50 billion shillings (about 462 million US dollars) in the next financial year to cushion counties that were losing money.
–IANS
sdr/