The Council of Governors (CoG) through its chairperson and Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi lamented that the funds allocated to counties in the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) were inadequate.
Members of the mediation committee drawn from the National Assembly and the Senate reached an agreement on the revenue allocation for devolved units proposing a total of Ksh387 billion for the Financial Year 2024/2025.
This figure represents an increase of Ksh2 billion compared to the previous financial year when they were allocated Ksh385 billion. The decision was made by a mediation committee co-chaired by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Senator Ali Roba from Mandera.
The National Assembly had initially passed a version of the Division of Revenue Bill 2024 that allocated Ksh380 billion which aligned with the National Treasury’s proposal following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024. Senators, however, were adamant about increasing this amount to Ksh400 billion, citing a cash crunch facing the country.
Despite the allocation, the council stated that the amount is way below their expectation of Ksh400 billion proposed by the Senate. The deficit of close to Ksh11.5 billion will affect critical services including honoring Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) in Counties.
“We are disappointed with the Ksh387 billion that was agreed in the mediated meetings despite expecting Ksh400 billion,” Governor Abdullahi stated.
He explained that during the mediations, there were only four options to unlock solutions to end the standoff between the Senate and National Assembly: agree at Ksh380 billion which the National Assembly initially proposed, Ksh400 which the Senate proposed, or at a middle figure between Ksh380 and Ksh400, or not agree at all.
However, Governor Abdullahi cautioned that the recent mediations exposed a loophole that can be manipulated going forward to delay or downgrade funding for counties through DORA.
“We are disappointed because the mediations opened a loophole that can be abused by the amendment of DORA after it has been amended,” he said warning of a potential constitutional crisis in future.
“Since 2013, counties have never gone back to DORA. We feel this is a loophole that can be abused going forward, that the national assembly can always have the liberty to amend the DORA to reduce what was allocated to the counties,” he elaborated.
He said going forward the glaring loophole giving the National Assembly the power to review sharable revenue to counties is something that needs to be clarified in law, for DORA to be amended not only downwards, but also upwards.
The CoG also demanded to have a guide to ensure that if taxes are raised, DORA can be amended to increase the allocation to counties.
“If the DORA is independent in the passing of a finance bill, should we have a requirement to pass a finance bill at the national level before we go through a protected negation of division of revenue?” he asked emphasizing the move will save a lot of delays for the much-needed funds to the county.
