The Council of Governors will meet on Monday next week over mounting rumours that Jubilee Government is planning to freeze Counties development funds.
Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong said the meeting is crucial since the rumours cannot be taken for granted, adding that they cannot allow county residents to suffer with the planned move to freeze funds.
“We have many ongoing projects for the 2015-2016 financial years which we need to complete. Freezing payments will cripple our operations,” he said.
Addressing a press conference in his office on Wednesday, the Governor said the upgrading of the Integrated Financial Management Information System to accommodate the I-tax system had paralyzed activities in all the 47 counties across the country.
“The collapse of IFMIS has given counties untold suffering with no notice before the system came tumbling. Most counties were forced to seek overdraft facilities from banks to pay salaries for their employees. The move to integrate tax in the system has forced us to meet the requirement. Our operations were curtailed including payment to contractors and suppliers,” he said.
The Governor said money is in the account but they can’t carry any transaction because of the system which caused untold suffering to many counties.
Ojaamong said an alternative should be introduced in case of IFMIS collapse to enable Counties make payments via cheques. He said the system has experienced many other hiccups including failure to honour some payments over unknown reasons.
