Treasury allocations to counties fall by half

Treasury allocations to counties in the four months to October dropped by nearly half to Sh35.3 billion, slowing business in the 47 devolved units.

Counties had received Sh68.27 billion in a similar period last year, underlining the cash crunch in the regional governments that have delayed suppliers’ pay and workers’ salaries as well as frozen projects.

The Treasury failed to allocate funds to counties for four months following contradictions in the Senate’s approved disbursement schedule and the cash allocation law approved by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

At the close of the first quarter that ended in September, none of the 47 devolved units had received their allocations, which compelled the Treasury to loan them Sh20.3 billion to pay workers’ salaries.

The Sh35.3 billion to the counties is an indication that the anomaly in the transfer schedule for counties that runs from July this year to June 2018 and the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) 2017 has been corrected.

READ: Pay delays as eight counties yet to get cash from Treasury

Nairobi got slightly over Sh5 billion, topping the list of counties with highest allocations, followed by Kiambu’s Sh2.3 billion, Homa Bay and Narok’s Sh1.5 billion each and Murang’as Sh1.4 billion.

Total allocation to the counties in the current financial year stands at Sh329.96 billion, which consists of the equitable share of national government revenue, conditional grants from the State and conditional loans and grants from development partners.

MPs in the previous (11th) Parliament agreed to allocate the 47 counties Sh302 billion in the Division of Revenue Bill saving counties an impending operation crisis in the current financial year.

Parliament must first approve the Division of Revenue Bill to pave the way for passage of County Allocation of Revenue Bill that determines how much each county gets.