The Council of Governors want an urgent meeting with President William Ruto in an effort to address emerging issues between the two levels of Government, simmering and likely to create a point of friction.
One of the issues is the absorption of the Universal Health Coverage staff, which the governors now accuse the newly appointed Health CS, Aden Duale, of mismanaging the Ministry.
According to the governors who addressed a press conference after a 5-hour full council meeting at their headquarters in Westlands, the question of transferring the UHC staff to counties is being mishandled and should be treated with the importance it requires.
Council of Governors chairperson and Wajir governor, Ahmed Abdulahi, has called out CS Duale, saying he is keen on fast-tracking the transfer of the UHC staff employed during the COVID era to counties, yet there are no accompanying funds to take care of their salaries and gratuity.
The UHC staff have been staging demos at the Ministry of Health headquarters and Parliament, demanding employment on permanent and pensionable terms, or be paid gratuity for having worked for the last six years, then allow for their seeking fresh mandates in individual counties.
The Council of Governors avers that it would be akin to committing to a programme blindly, as there are still funding challenges between themselves and the National Government, so it would be suicide to bring on board the UHC staff without accompanying funds.
CoG Health Committee chairperson Muthomi Njuki has asked the Ministry of Health to deal exhaustively with the UHC staff and allow their takeover to be seamless and without the National Government hangover, thus, counties should not be dragged into a simmering tussle until they conclusively deal with what is at hand.
The Council of Governors has also taken issue with a recent donation of surveillance vehicles by the National Government, officiated by president Ruto, arguing, the move amounts to a continued usurping of county powers by the National Government, arguing, the procurement of vehicles is a county function and thus, monies should have been channelled to counties
Consequently, the governors argue that it would be extremely difficult to ensure vehicles purchased by the national government, as they pose a danger to the operations of the vehicles.
The meeting governors want with the president will also seek to address county funding challenges that they say have been persistent.
CoG chair Ahmed Abdulahi says despite their ask of kes. 536 billion for the 2025/2026 financial year, only KES. 405 billion has been allocated, an amount far less.
Moreover, the Government owes counties three months’ funds totalling about KES. 76 billion
The Council also wants the president to live up to his promise of having devolved functions funded, arguing, there are still efforts to claw back on devolution gains by having National Government MDAs still being allocated KES. 29 billion, yet there was a promise of ensuring funds follow functions