Referring to the ongoing crisis where counties are owed Sh68 billion, Sifuna highlighted that the National Treasury has breached the law, which mandates timely disbursement by the 15th of each month.
This failure has pushed devolved units to the brink, unable to pay salaries, settle supplier debts, and forcing them to rely on unsustainable bank loans.
The resultant paralysis, Sifuna warns, risks shutting down essential services in hospitals and schools, directly harming millions of Kenyans.
Sifuna anchored his criticism in Article III of the historic 10-Point Memorandum of Understanding between ODM and UDA, which explicitly commits to protecting devolution from clawback and ensuring the predictable flow of funds.
The current impasse, therefore, is not merely an administrative failure but a fundamental violation of that political pact.
He contrasts the national government's assurances, exemplified by CS John Mbadi's denial of a crisis, with the grim reality governors are reporting on the ground.
In essence, Sifuna positions this as a test of the government's commitment to the constitution and to the cooperative agreements that underpin it.
His message is clear: sustained underfunding and erratic disbursement are tools to cripple county governments and must be resisted to safeguard the spirit and function of devolution.
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