Counties are staring at operational shutdown due to the absence of a law that would have allowed them to access half of their equitable share pending approval of a formula on revenue sharing.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said there is no legal provision that allows Parliament to approve the withdrawal of half of the Sh316.5 billion allocated to counties from the Consolidated Fund.
Leader of the Minority Party John Mbadi had sought Parliament’s approval to sanction withdrawal of Sh158.25 billion from the Consolidated Fund to the devolved units as the stalemate on passage of the County Allocation of Revenue (CAR) Bill, 2020 persists.
Counties are staring at operational shutdown due to the absence of a law that would have allowed them to access half of their equitable share pending approval of a formula on revenue sharing.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said there is no legal provision that allows Parliament to approve the withdrawal of half of the Sh316.5 billion allocated to counties from the Consolidated Fund.
Leader of the Minority Party John Mbadi had sought Parliament’s approval to sanction withdrawal of Sh158.25 billion from the Consolidated Fund to the devolved units as the stalemate on passage of the County Allocation of Revenue (CAR) Bill, 2020 persists.
The Bill provides for the sharing of revenue raised nationally between the two levels of government as well as guides release of cash to counties from the Consolidated Fund.
Mr Muturi added that under the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012 Parliament can approve release of funds to the national government in case of a delay in passing an appropriation bill.
However, there is no law that allows MPs to sanction the withdrawal of money to counties without the passage of the CAR bill that guides the sharing of allocation among the 47 devolved units.
Mr Muturi said that counties can only get the funds if Senators pass the CAR Bill, 2020 or if Parliament amends the PFM Act, 2012 to allow the devolved units to access the funds and avert the looming cash-crunch.
“Article 22 of the Constitution authorises the withdrawal of funds for the operations of the National Government in the event that an appropriation bill has not been assented to,” speaker Muturi said yesterday.
“The Constitution, however does not expressly provide a similar mechanism to intervene for the counties when faced by a similar predicament.”
This comes even as Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka ordered that the revenue sharing formula be debated and concluded next Tuesday in a bid to break the impasse.
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