CoG asked Senate to increase the allocations to Sh322 billion as recommended by the CRA.
CRA, however, said it had revised its projections on the equitable share to Sh314 billion.
Parliament had approved Sh299 billion to be shared among the 47 counties, but the Treasury cut the allocation by Sh8 billion.
Treasury noted that the amount it allocated totalled Sh331 billion, including Sh291 billion as shareable revenue and about Sh30 billion as conditional allocations.
Governors and the Commission on Revenue Authority (CRA) want the Senate to increase the amount of shareable revenue to counties after the National Assembly cut the Treasury allocation to Sh291 billion.
The Council of Governors (CoG) chairman and Meru Governor Peter Munya accused Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich of underfunding the devolved units to portray them as non-performing.
The CoG asked the Senate to increase the allocations to Sh322 billion as recommended by the CRA to cover rising inflation, high cost of service delivery and increase in population.
The CoG and the CRA said the reduction of the Treasury allocation of equitable sharable revenue to the counties from Sh299 billion to Sh291 billion is meant to stifle devolved governments of resources.
Stagnant revenues
Parliament had approved Sh299 billion to be shared among the 47 counties, but the Treasury cut the allocation by Sh8 billion and increased that of the national government by Sh5.5 billion to Sh1.238 billion.
“There is no way shareable revenue to counties can be stagnant when national government revenue is growing. The revenue is going below inflation yet drugs continue to be expensive, inflation is rising and the cost of living is growing. We want to stick to recommendations from CRA of Sh322.8 billion,” Mr Munya told the Senate committee on Finance, Planning and Commerce.
The CRA, however, informed the lawmakers that it had revised its projections on the equitable share to Sh314 billion.
Committee chairman Billow Kerrow (Mandera) said the committee will consider the proposals and come up with a final amount to be allocated to the counties.
Sh331 billion allocation
The Treasury said it has allocated the 47 county governments a total of Sh331 billion in the financial year starting July.
Mr Rotich said the amount includes Sh291 billion as shareable revenue and about Sh30 billion as conditional allocations from the national government and development partners.
“Government conditional allocation is about Sh13.6 billion including free maternity healthcare, lease of medical equipment, compensation of user fee foregone, Level 5 hospitals and development of five county headquarters and County Assembles.
“We have also provided loans and grants from development partners like the World Bank and other bilateral support amounting to Sh12.5 billion,” Mr Rotich said.
He said another Sh5.5 billion will be sent to counties after the Treasury signed agreements with various donors.
The committee had invited the CoG, CRA, the Treasury and the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) to discuss the Division of Revenue Bill -- which shares revenue raised nationally between national and county governments.
Mr Rotich told the committee that the National Assembly had reduced Treasury allocation to counties from Sh299 billion to Sh291 billion “in their own wisdom of cutting expenditure across all government sectors.”
The governors attacked Mr Rotich on his decision to channel Sh4 billion for free maternity through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) saying health is devolved and NHIF is a national government entity.
“When you put the money as conditional allocation to counties and the same is sent to a national entity in the name of NHIF, are you not creating an impression that counties have been given a lot of money?” Wycliffe Oparanya, the chairman of CoG Finance and Budget committee said.
