Give more funding to counties, says new Chair of CoG Gov. Oparanya

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya begun his term as the Chair of the Council of Governors of Kenya with tough calls and conditions on Monday.

Oparanya has hit hard on the pace at which the money from the treasury is being disbursed at the county level. He has pointed a hand at the treasury saying it is not going to be the usual business under his tenure.

“We want to tell Treasury that under my term, it will not be business as usual, especially when it comes to flow of funds to the counties,” Mr Oparanya said.
He also promised to ensure that the thorny issue of e-procurement under the Integrated Financial Management System (Ifmis), which has almost always ground operations in the counties to a halt, is addressed.

Mr Nanok, in his last speech, defended his tenure, saying, he had helped steer the devolution boat in the right direction after the 2017 elections.

He also complained about delayed disbursements to counties and what he said was failure by the National Assembly to stick to agreements on various Bills.
He specifically mentioned the County Retirement Scheme Bill, which, he said, went against agreements made on the pension management for county governments’ employees.

He cited the rolling out of the regional economic blocs, the finalisation of the 2017 guidelines for the management of intergovernmental fiscal transfers and improved partnerships with development partners and the Judiciary as some of his successes.