Economy

Counties to get additional cash for Big Four Agenda

treasury

The Treasury has slashed equitable share of revenue to the counties for the year. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Governors will from July next year get additional cash on top of the normal allocations from the Treasury in a new plan aimed at fast-tracking implementation of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s “Big Four Agenda”.

The county chiefs reached a deal with the Devolution ministry and the Senate to get more cash during the week-long annual Devolution Conference which ended Thursday in Kirinyaga.

A resolution of the forum tasked the county administrations, the Treasury, Parliament and the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) to work on modalities which will see the proposed cash included in the budget for the year starting July 2020.

“Since the Big Four Agenda focuses on four devolved functions, the national government shall, in the next budget cycle, allocate resources to facilitate county governments’ support for the implementation of the Big Four Agenda,” said a communique from the Sixth Devolution Conference.

The “Big Four Agenda” policy seeks to boost economic growth through improving food security, rolling out universal healthcare, supporting manufacturing, and providing affordable housing.

The Treasury has slashed equitable share of revenue to the counties for the year starting July to Sh310 billion from Sh314 billion in the current year, citing revenue shortfalls.

It has prioritised allocation of cash to Mr Kenyatta’s Big Four plan.

Bi-weekly reports

In a bid to fast-track implementation of the targeted projects, the President on January 21 reorganised governance structure in his administration to facilitate timely monitoring of projects from the grassroots to the national level.

The executive order tasked county commissioners with preparing bi-weekly reports on the progress of projects and bottlenecks to regional commissioners, who are to escalate them to the national level.

The governors, however, want to be involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the priority projects through the structure which is overseen by Interior secretary Fred Matiang’i, who reports directly to Mr Kenyatta.

“MoDA (Ministry of Devolution) and the National Government Development Coordination Committee (NGDCC) shall develop a policy and institutional framework to facilitate coordination between both levels of government in the implementation of the Big Four Agenda,” the comminique read.

The proposal for additional funds comes at a time governors are under sharp public scrutiny for blowing the bulk of the devolved resources on administrative expenses and wages at the expense of development.