County governors has issued a 30-day notice that county services will be unavailable over delays by the national government to disburse cash allocated to the devolved units.
Governors say the devolved units are owed Kshs 63.6 billion, which has caused a cash crunch in the devolved units.
However, in a quick rejoinder the national government says counties are not owed any money since all allocations (totalling Kshs 158 billion since July 2024) have been disbursed with the October share disbursed on Monday.
Council of Governors, Chairperson, Ahmed Abdulahi, says the biting cash crunch has left some counties with not choice but to only offer critical services.
He says in some counties staff have not received their salaries for three months.
Abdulahi further says counties want the national government to disburse to county health facilities Kshs 9 billion that is owed to them under the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), noting that hospitals lack key medicine as the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) is no longer disbursing medical supplies as it is owed Kshs 3.8 billion by devolved units.
He says the Kshs 9 billion from NHIF will be used to clear the debt owed to KEMSA by counties.