The Governor has faulted health indices used by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), saying it ignored the susceptibility of some counties to Covid-19 cases.
By GPSU
The allocation of Sh5 billion by the National Government to counties to support efforts to fight Covid-19 needs an urgent review, Governor Joseph ole Lenku said on Sunday.
Lenku has faulted the allocation of Sh52 million to Kajiado County out of the Sh5 billion kitty fund saying the move erred in assessment of the emerging needs of the County.
“We have been allocated Sh52 million only, yet we now have 92 confirmed cases. Counties that are yet to record a single case have been allocated more than Sh200 million,” argued the governor.
The Governor reiterated that the health indices used by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) ignored the susceptibility of some counties to Covid-19 cases.
“The indices are for general health indicators that are not related with addressing the current challenge of Coronavirus disease,” said Lenku. “They are misrepresenting the correlation between allocation of resources and the needs they are supposed to address,” he added.
According to the Ministry of Health data, Kajiado County has hit 92 confirmed cases and is now the third most prone County after Nairobi and Mombasa yet it got limited allocation as compared to other Counties.
The Covid-19 conditional grant schedule signed by CRA Chairperson Jane Kiringai shows Nairobi, the worst hit county, was allocated Kshs294 million while Mombasa, the second most affected was allocated Kshs100 million
The schedule further reveals that counties such as Kakamega that are yet to report cases were allocated Kshs262 million while Kisii was allocated Kshs156 million. Uasin Gishu with less than 50 cases was allocated Kshs125 million.
Speaking in Kajiado Sunday during a brief on Covid-19 pandemic’s preparedness in the County, the Governor said Kajiado continued to be exposed to the virus due to its porous border with Tanzania.
“In fact, 70 per cent of our cases are related to the Namanga and Oloitokotik borders where the majority of truck drivers are entering and exiting the Country,” said Lenku in his address.
The Governor said the County’s preparedness was on course and that there were 63 beds in the County’s Isolation Wards distributed across five health facilities and 10 ICU beds as well as 10 High Dependency Unit beds.
