Governors asked to account for money already received before threatening to close down counties.

Governors have been challenged to first account for all the monies they have received from the exchequer before threatening to close down counties for lack of funding.

This clarion call was made by a group of youth professionals from Kiambu County during a food donation exercise by Nduati Njuguna Foundation at Makutano Trading Centre in Thika East Sub-County.

“As much as we are advocating for more money to the counties, we need also to put to task governors to account for the billions they have been receiving from both the national government as well as the money they collect as levies from their people. Where does all this money go to since it is barely felt at the grassroots?” questioned Antony Nduati Njuguna, the founder and C.E.O. Nduati Njuguna Foundation.

On September 3, governors, through the Council of Governors, threatened to shut down counties in the next two weeks and send staff on leave if Senate failed to reach a consensus on revenue formula.

Nduati, who is popularly known as 'Tony Mujumbe', noted that it was quite unfortunate in this age and era, that Thika people continued to depend on handouts and food donations from the government and well-wishers despite all the billions allocated every financial year for development. He described this as a reflection of failed leadership since money meant for development barely trickled down to the grassroots.

“Our people have been turned into beggars despite the fact that they are very hardworking. They have been frustrated by their own leaders who deliberately deny them the resources they need to be productive. This money instead ends up being used on irrelevant public relation exercises that have no value to the living conditions of our people,” he said.

He called on Senate to urgently resolve the revenue allocation impasse and also ensure that the allocation was reflective of the number of people in a particular region.

“I stand for One Man-One Vote-One Shilling. There are no two ways about that since resources are meant to benefit people not trees or land. It is the people who need this money to enable them generate more revenue to the country. Majority of the problems our people face can be directly attributed to under-funding especially in densely populated areas,” he said.

Nduati advocated for the same formula to be replicated in counties as they shared resources to the grassroots.

“For instance, Thika contributes the lion share in Kiambu County's revenue collection. However, the constituency has over the years received a wide berth in resource allocation. We insist that the One Man-One Shilling formula be cascaded down even at county level,” said Nduati.

He advised the residents of Thika and Kiambu county to also push for more constituencies and the county being divided into two to attract more resources at the grassroots.

“We need to take advantage of the process of delimitation of boundaries by the IEBC and the clamor for constitutional changes to demand that Kiambu be divided into two; Kiambu East and Kiambu West Counties. Large constituencies such as Thika, Juja, Ruiru and Gatundu should also be sub-divided to increase representation and resource allocation. Let's be fair to everyone and discourage a situation where some citizens have to suffer due to their numbers,” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by the Foundation's Patron Kariuki Kanyingi who called on the government investigative agencies to dig in on counties that had misappropriated public funds and ensure their leaders were made to account for every coin they had received. He also challenged wananchi to evoke the constitutional recall clause that gave them powers to fire leaders who failed in their mandate as well as those who couldn't account for their money.

During the exercise, 500 vulnerable families received food hampers, sanitisers and face masks from the foundation.

The recipients could not hide their joy as they said that they were barely remembered during times of hardships.