GOVERNORS WANT PAY RISE OR PUSH FOR REFERENDUM

MERU COUNTY: The Government
should reconsider the amount of
money going to counties, otherwise
governors will push for a referendum
over revenue allocation, Council of
Governors Secretary Peter Munya has
said.
Speaking during the Meru County
Education Day at Kaaga Girls High
School, Munya said: “Meru county
was only allocated Sh5 billion from
the National Government. Of this,
they use 70 per cent to pay salaries.
We are left with Sh1.8 billion to
transform all the sectors.”
He said the nine sub counties will
each get Sh200 million which is
inadequate.
“We are not going to lie. We are not
happy with how the National
Government is treating us in terms
of allocations. We need more
money,” said the governor. He said if
Jubilee wants to puncture the
opposition’s call for a referendum,
the Government must increase
funding for counties, because “all
counties have tasted development
and nobody wants a reversal of gains
made.”
The Council of Governors said the
Sh226 billion allocated to the
counties is not enough for them to
meet recurrent expenditure and
initiate development projects.
The county bosses have previously
threatened to collect one million
signatures from Kenyans to force the
Government to conduct a
referendum on revenue allocation to
counties. According to the
Constitution, counties should get a
minimum of 15 per cent of the
national revenue.