Senators will use the money to undertake county expenditure review, undertake research and survey studies on various thematic areas affecting counties, track and monitor development activities and undertake social auditing of development projects being undertaken in counties.
The Treasury has indicated that it will allocate Sh372.7 billion to the counties in the financial year starting June.
The senators have been pushing for allocation of the money after their counterparts in the National Assembly shot down a proposal to establish a Sh2 billion monitoring and evaluation fund.
County governments will come under closer scrutiny if Parliament approves fresh regulations that give senators Sh1 billion annually to oversee the devolved units.
The Public Finance (Senate Monitoring and Evaluation) Regulations 2018 seek to establish a fund that will enable the Senate to effectively monitor the use of the share of national government revenue allocated to county governments annually.
“The purpose of the Statutory Instrument is to provide a legal framework for the establishment, administration and disbursement of the Senate Monitoring and Evaluation Fund and to facilitate senators to carry out monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment activities at county level in the context of Article 96 of the Constitution,” Jeremiah Nyegenye, the Clerk of the Senate, says in a note accompanying the new rules dated March 21, 2018.
Mr Nyegenye, also the secretary to the Parliamentary Service Commission, says the Treasury, the Parliamentary Budget Office and Senators have been consulted during formulation of the regulations.
Senators will use the money to undertake county expenditure review, undertake research and survey studies on various thematic areas affecting counties, track and monitor development activities and undertake social auditing of development projects being undertaken in counties.
The Treasury has indicated that it will allocate Sh372.7 billion to the counties in the financial year starting June. The senators have been pushing for allocation of the money after their counterparts in the National Assembly shot down a proposal to establish a Sh2 billion monitoring and evaluation fund.
Should Parliament approve the regulations, the 67 senators would become the third set of legislators to control an allocation after the 290 MPs and 47 women representatives. Elected MPs have the Constituency Development Fund, while women reps have the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF).
Each of the 290 MPs is entitled to Sh100 million annually for development projects in their constituencies, while the 47 women representatives control Sh7 million for each constituency in a county.
The Nairobi Woman Representative, for instance, directly manages Sh119 million for the 17 constituencies in the city county while Lamu and Isiolo representatives control Sh14 million for the two constituencies in both counties.
Senators have in the past complained of lack of an allocation to monitor how governors use funds allocated to them each year.
“A nominated senator shall carry out monitoring and evaluation activities at the national level in respect of the interest that the senator represents in the Senate,” the rules say.
There are 47 elected and 20 nominated members in the Senate. If implemented, senators will have a tool to act on the grim reports of the Controller of Budget and the Auditor-General which have continued to raise queries on misuse of billions of shillings in taxpayer funds.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko has in the past questioned governors’ failure to complete mega infrastructure projects such of their residences and airstrips.
Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo on the other hand has questioned the spending of Sh1 billion on trips by the county chiefs and Sh152 million pocketed by MCAs in sitting allowances in the first quarter of the current financial year.
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