By Billy Mijungu
While the National Treasury may have disbursed the full sharable revenue of Ksh 480Bn for FY 24 25 including arrears as declared by CS John Mbadi, the reality on the ground remains grim. Disbursement may look good on paper, but accessing and utilizing these funds is still a nightmare for counties.
This points to a deeper, systemic failure in our public finance management policies that continues to frustrate timely service delivery and development.
What’s even more troubling is the timing releasing these funds at the edge of June, when the financial year is closing, and expecting counties to absorb and spend them according to their approved budgets is simply poor planning.
It’s a case of wrong calculations and misplaced priorities by the National Treasury. In fact, such last minute disbursement feels like throwing a rotten egg in the face of County Bosses, a mockery of devolution rather than support for it.
Year after year, the same script plays out. Counties wait endlessly for their share of the national revenue only for the money to arrive too late to be meaningfully used. Suppliers remain unpaid, essential services are disrupted, and planned development projects stall indefinitely. What value is there in disbursing funds that cannot be absorbed within the fiscal window?
This is not just an operational issue. It is a structural weakness in how we approach intergovernmental fiscal relations. The Treasury’s role is not just to release funds, but to ensure predictability and timeliness critical pillars for effective county planning. Late disbursement is tantamount to sabotage.
The consequence is a mounting pile of unutilized balances, hurried procurement, and a rush to beat closing deadlines that inevitably leads to poor quality spending, audit queries, and wasted resources. It creates the illusion of budget execution, while in reality it deepens inefficiencies and opens new doors to corruption.
If we are serious about strengthening devolution and achieving meaningful service delivery at the grassroots, then this culture must end. What counties need is not just funds, but funds on time. Not last minute disbursements but structured, predictable cash flow aligned to the planning and budgeting cycle.
Otherwise, 480 billion will remain what it has become this year a figure in a speech, a claim on a press release, and a ghost in the books of county governments.
It is time to rethink the architecture of our fiscal transfers, enforce accountability at both levels of government, and above all, restore integrity to the intergovernmental budget process.
Until then, Ksh 480B will be remembered not as a milestone in fiscal devolution, but as the 480B that never was.
