Why devolution is struggling, President Ruto explains

President William Ruto. [Standard, File]

President William Ruto has explained the main reasons why devolution is not working effectively and is facing myriad financial challenges.

He made the sentiments on Monday, December 16, at State House Nairobi, during the 11th National and County Governments coordinating Summit where he met with Governors and other stakeholders from both governments.

In his address, the president called for unity between county and national government, saying pending bills, high wage bill, low revenue collection and misuse of funds are the biggest challenges of devolution.

"That said, three significant challenges remain high public debt, including pending bills, unsustainable public wage bills, and inefficiencies in revenue collection and utilisation," Ruto said.

He adds, "To address these constraints effectively, unity of purpose and sustained collaboration between national and county governments are essential. Our continued cooperation will enable us to expand fiscal space, improve budgetary allocations, and ensure timely disbursements to counties."

The president has also admitted faults in the disbursement of funds by the Natiina Treasury to Counties, saying irregular flow of grants and development funds are to blame.

"The intermittent flow of resources, especially conditional grants and development funds, has undermined the

ability of county governments to effectively support the implementation of strategic national programmes and

complementary county projects. It is deeply regrettable that our overall development and service delivery outcomes would likely have been much different under a more favourable fiscal environment," he has explained.

Despitetge challenges in the country's fiscal framework, Ruto has maintained that the shortcomings should not be translated to a lack of committment to devolution by his regime.

He says the state has put in place measures to resolve the issues and ensure smooth operations in counties.

President Ruto also says the country has faced what he terms as 'challenging macroeconomic and public financial volatility' resulting from severe socio-political challenges experienced earlier this year.

"I urge you to focus on the silver lining. Through determined efforts, we have stabilised the economy. As a result, inflation has reached a historic low of 2.8 per cent, our currency is strong, and our foreign exchange reserves are robust. In other words, the conditions are now in place for us to achieve a stronger economic outlook and maintain consistency in the disbursement of allocated revenues," Ruto pleads.

The president's sentiments came weeks after the Council of Governors raised an alarm over delayed disbursement of funds for county operations, and threatened to shut down county operations if the situation persisted.

In response, Treasury CS John Mbadi blamed the delay on Parliament after Senate and the National Assembly differed on the amount to br disbursed to counties.

The National Assembly had proposed a slash of county funds by Sh20million to Sh280 million, but the Senate voted to maintain the original amount causing a stalemate on how much shound be disbursed to the counties.