This archive report was first published on 13 December 2019.
On Friday, Justice Weldon Korir issued an order compelling the National Treasury acting CS Ukur Yatani and the Controller of Budget to immediately disburse the equitable share of revenue due to the 35 county governments.
The order was issued two days after the Council of County Governments filed a suit, citing Article 219 of the Constitution and Section 17 (6) of the Public Finance Management Act.
According to the ruling, an interim order was issued to compel the respondents to immediately disburse the revenue, pending the hearing and determination of the application.
However, this order now puts into doubt the clearance of part of the outstanding arrears to county suppliers, while heightening the risk of the creation of new pending bills.
Earlier, State House had issued orders freezing transfers to counties that failed to clear pending bills, following a meeting by the Fred Matiang'i-led Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC).
County governments were required to establish pending bills resolution committees, but when they defied the directive, the disbursement of revenue from Treasury was frozen in defiance to the Parliamentary Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) rejection of the proposal.
It drew the wrath of the Council of Governors (COG), who had previously reiterated on the negative impact of exchequer denials on day-to-day county operations.
