City Hall workers to wait longer for March salaries as cash crisis bites
County Secretary urged staff to continue rendering their services, even as he termed the delay regrettable
Employees of the Nairobi City County Government will have to wait longer after City Hall issued a notice indicating a delay in their March salaries.
County Secretary Godfrey Akumali, blamed the delay in disbursement of the equitable share by the national government for the delay, saying the last disbursement the county government received was for the month of January.
“Nairobi City County relies on the disbursement of an equitable share by the National Treasury to run its operations. Regarding this, we regret to inform you that there will be a delay in salaries for March pending the disbursement of equitable share,” Akumali stated .
Akumali added that they are waiting for the release of the funds to ensure that the delayed salaries are paid.
“We wait for action by the National Treasury to honour its constitutional and legal mandate to release equitable share on time every month,” he added.
Akumali further urged the county staff to continue rendering their services, even as he termed the delay regrettable.
Governors recently threatened a total shutdown of operations if the National Treasury does not release Ksh 63 billion being the equitable share for the months of February and March.
Chairman of the Finance, Planning and Economic Affairs of the Council of Governors, Fernandes Barasa, has revealed that all the 47 counties are owed Sh31 billion for the month of February and sh32 billion for March.
He said the continued delay in the release of the funds has strained the delivery of services at the devolved level.
“We are calling on the National Treasury to expedite releases of pending disbursements since we have functions to perform,” said the Kakamega Governor.
Governors say that essential services and projects, including water, road construction, and healthcare have been crippled.
They also protested budget cuts totaling Sh140 billion, arguing that the reductions threaten donor-funded projects.
Governors have also been pushing for an increase in the equitable share without success.
For the 2025/26 financial year, the Council of Governors (CoG) wants counties to receive no less than Sh547 billion, while the National Treasury has proposed an allocation of Sh405 billion.
The proposal by National Treasury proposal represents an increase of Sh17.6 billion from the current financial year, where counties settled for Sh387 billion following adjustments after the withdrawal of the controversial Finance Bill 2024.
This is, however, slightly lower than the recommendation by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), which suggested that counties should get at least Sh417.4 billion, a figure higher than what the Treasury is offering but still far below the governors’ demand.
