Governors from the 47 county governments have given the President William Ruto administration 14 days to release delayed devolved funds or they will shut down counties.

In a statement after a full council meeting of the Council of Governors, the irate governors accused the National Government of posing a threat to the implementation of devolution.

COG chaired by Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru says the National Treasury has failed to release Sh94.35 billion owed to the counties for the months of February, March and April.

The council says Treasury led by CS Njuguna Ndung'u owes counties Sh31.45 billion for February, Sh29.6 billion for March and Sh33.3 billion for April, a move that they say has paralyzed their operations.

“The four-month delay is unprecedented in the history of devolution and negates the spirit of the meeting held in Naivasha between His Excellency the President and the Governors,” said COG in a statement read by its chair Anne Waiguru on Monday.

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The 47 governors threaten to shut down all the operations in the county governments if President Ruto’s government fails to remit the owed amounts within the next two weeks.


“We, therefore, call upon the CS National Treasury to immediately release the Ksh94.35 billion owed to county governments without any further delay.

“By dint of this, the Council of Governors hereby issues a 14 days’ notice to shut down counties of February, March and April arrears are not released within two weeks.”

In that regard, the governors have told citizens that they will not be able to offer services in the devolved units as required due to the cash crunch occasioned by delayed disbursements.