No cash for counties yet despite the release of Sh50 billion

Delays in the enactment of law guiding the sharing of revenues among the 47 counties has blocked devolved units from accessing Sh50 billion released yesterday by the National Treasury.

Parliament is yet to approve the County Allocation Revenue Bill which must then be presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta for assent.

The legislation allows the counties to proceed in preparation of their annual budgets.

“We appeal to Parliament to expedite the enactment of the County Allocation Revenue Bill which allocates revenues across counties,” acting Treasury cabinet secretary Ukur Yatani told journalists yesterday.

The Treasury has disbursed Sh50 billion to counties after President Kenyatta signed into law the Division of Revenue Allocation Bill 2019 (DoR) Tuesday.

The funds are for servicing disbursements for July and August at the counties.

Approval of the DoR —which allocates funds equitably between the national and county governments— had been derailed following a dispute between the Senate and the National Assembly over allocations.

Senate later softened its stance and accepted a Sh316.5 billion allocation for counties proposed in the revised bill.

Parliament must first approve the Division of Revenue Bill to pave the way for passage of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill that determines how much each county gets.

Mr Yatani asked counties to finalise and adopt their budgets which should prioritise using the Sh50 billion for payment of pending bills accrued from previous financial years. “Based on a report by the Auditor-General, the stock of county pending bills were estimated to to be in excess of Sh100 billion at end of February 2019, of which 40.5 billion was found to be legible for immediate payment,” he said.

Counties have been grappling with delayed Treasury disbursements and dwindling revenue collections, which have resulted in delays in paying suppliers and workers’ salaries as well as frozen projects.