MPs committee fails to agree on money to be sent to the regional units.
Counties risk going into the next financial year without their budgets following delays by Parliament in passing a Bill that determines how national revenue will be shared among the 47 devolved units.
Parliament must approve the Division of Revenue Bill to pave the way for passing the County Allocation of Revenue Bill that determines how much each county gets. Failure to have the legislation in place means that counties cannot prepare their annual budgets.
A mediation committee drawing membership from the National Assembly and the Senate failed to agree on the amount of money to be sent to the counties, frustrating efforts to pass the Division of Revenue Bill. The Council of Governors (CoG) has asked Parliament to urgently pass the Bill to save the country a chaotic transition.
“The County Governments might go into the new financial year without their budgets in place hence stagnating development and ultimately leading to chaotic transition process,” said former COG chairman Peter Munya during the State of Devolution address.
The Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) reintroduced the Bill last week with the Sh291 billion figure, an amount Senators had rejected and set at Sh314 billion. A lack of consensus from both Houses saw it forwarded to the mediation team on March 31. The mediation period elapsed on April 30.
The governors are against BAC reintroducing a Bill with the figures prompted by the National Assembly of Sh291 billion suggesting fresh attempts to have a go at mediation.
Mr Munya expressed concern over the reduction in absolute amounts on the equitable share allocation to the counties in 2017/18.
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