Muturi moves to rescue counties as revenue deal remains elusive

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi is pushing for a fast passage of a Bill that will allow counties to access 50 percent of their equitable share in the wake of delayed enactment of the Division of Revenue Bill.

Mr Muturi said senators should pass the Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill 2019 that will allow Parliament to sanction withdrawal of the funds and avoid operational shut-down across the devolved units.

Currently the law allows Parliament to approve release of funds to the national government in case of a delay in passing an appropriation Bill but lack of a similar provision for counties has thrown the devolved units into a cash crunch.

The National Assembly passed the Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill 2019 last September but senators are yet to debate and approve the proposed law that will help counties avoid cash crunch in case of delayed passage of the Division of Revenue Bill.

Senators have yet to agree on the new revenue sharing formula that has in turn delayed release of Sh316.5 billion allocated to the counties three months into the new financial year.

“I remain confident that the Senate will rise to the occasion and dispense with the Bill with its usual diligence on matters integral to the protection of devolution,” Speaker Muturi said.

Mr Muturi last week rejected a motion by Minority Leader John Mbadi that sought Parliament’s approval to sanction withdrawal of half of the equitable share allocated in the year to next June citing lack of the legal provision under the PFM Act of 2012.

The National Treasury had also sought Parliament’s approval to release half of the funds amid the stalemate on passage of the County Allocation of Revenue (CAR) Bill, 2020.

Senators have disagreed on the new formula on grounds that 19 counties drawn mainly from the North, Coast and Lower Eastern lose a cumulative Sh42 billion while 28 others stand to gain.

The formula, that will be the third since start of devolution, guides the sharing of revenue raised nationally between the two levels of government as well as release of cash to counties from the Consolidated Fund.