Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has assured county government workers that their June salaries will be paid on time despite concerns over delayed Exchequer releases to devolved units.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

Appearing before the Senate Plenary on Wednesday, Mbadi said counties would receive priority in Treasury allocations and dismissed fears that workers could experience salary delays before the end of the month.

“Counties do not wait for the Exchequer to initiate transactions, and also the salary for June will be paid immediately they get the Exchequer. We usually give counties priority, and therefore, there is no deliberate effort to starve counties of funds,” Mbadi told senators.

His assurance came after Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna raised concerns over persistent delays in county disbursements from the National Treasury despite previous commitments made during Public Accounts Committee meetings.

📌 What You Need to Know

The CS acknowledged that the government has faced cash flow challenges but insisted that the delays do not mean counties will miss their salary obligations .

“On financial accountability and Exchequer releases coming late, it should be understood that these releases can only happen when we have resources to fund the budget, which is primarily done through borrowing and taxes,” he said.

Mbadi explained that Treasury operations are currently being affected by delays in securing external financing, including a major World Bank facility that is expected before the close of the financial year.

“Sometimes borrowing takes time. For instance, this year we had requested funding through the DPO from the World Bank. However, this will come some two weeks before the end of the financial year,” he added.

The Treasury is expecting to receive Ksh96.9 billion from the World Bank under the Development Policy Operations (DPO) programme before June 30 .

The funds had been delayed as Kenya worked to satisfy several policy and governance reforms required by the lender before the loan could be approved for disbursement.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke