Kenya: The Senate has moved to protect county governments that will be left in debt after allocation of funds by compelling the national government to provide additional resources.
Senators introduced a clause in the County Allocation of Revenue Bill requiring the State to rescue counties unable to fund devolved functions.
The amendments were carried as the House passed the law, which gives the specific allocation to counties.
During the Committee stage of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill yesterday, the Senators introduced a clause to ensure counties are protected. “Where the allocation of monies to a county results in a county being allocated an amount that is less than the amount commensurate to the cost of the functions devolved to the county, the national government shall allocate part of its share of revenue to provide the additional resources needed,” states the introduced clause.
The amendment to the Bill is a major reprieve to 18 counties, which the Senate had expressed fear would be left in deficit after sharing of the Sh210 billion among the counties.
It was this fear that had forced the Senate to increase the allocation to counties to Sh258 billion, before their input into the Division of Revenue Bill was ignored by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly went ahead to forward the Bill to President Uhuru Kenyatta for assent with Sh210 billion allocation to the devolved units.
The Bill will now be sent to the National Assembly for concurrence before it is sent to President Uhuru Kenyatta for assent.
By MOSES NJAGIH, The Standard
