Reduction of the Treasury allocation of equitable shareable revenue to the counties will stifle the devolved units of resources.
Parliament had initially approved a Sh299 billion allocation, but the Treasury cut the figure by Sh8 billion and increased that of the national government by Sh5.5 billion.
Mr Rotich told the committee that the National Assembly had reduced Treasury allocation to counties from Sh299 billion to Sh291 billion.
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 allocation to Sh291 billion.
The Council of Governors (CoG) asked the Senate to increase the amount to Sh322 billion as recommended by the CRA to cover rising inflation, high cost of service delivery and increase in population.
Reduction of the Treasury allocation of equitable shareable revenue to the counties will stifle the devolved units of resources, the CRA and CoG warned.
The CoG chairman and Meru governor Peter Munya accused Treasury secretary Henry Rotich of underfunding devolution to portray them as non-performing.
Parliament had initially approved a Sh299 billion allocation, but the Treasury cut the figure by Sh8 billion and increased that of the national government by Sh5.5 billion to Sh1.238 trillion.
“There is no way shareable revenue to counties can be stagnant when national government’s is growing. The cost of drugs continues to be expensive and the cost of living is growing. We want to stick to recommendations from the 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 they would consider the proposals and come up with a final amount to be allocated to the counties.
The Treasury said it has allocated the county governments 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.
SENATE COMMITTEE
“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 assemblies and headquarters.” “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 added that another Sh5.5 billion will be sent to counties after the Treasury signs agreements with various donors. The Senate committee had invited the CoG, CRA, Treasury and the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) to discuss the Division of Revenue Bill, which shares revenue 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.”
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