The National Assembly has rejected an amendment by the Senate that sought to increase the funds allocated to counties by Ksh60 billion, from Ksh405 billion.
While moving the motion during the Tuesday, June 3, session, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah stated that the country's economy was not in a position to accommodate the additional funding for counties.
Following the decision by the MPs, the two Houses will hold joint mediation sittings to discuss and agree on the Division of Revenue Bill.
"This Bill, as approved by the House, had about Ksh405 billion, but the other House has since amended that and proposed that we increase that to about Ksh465 billion, that is Ksh60 billion above what is agreed. And bearing in mind the fiscal space that we have, it may not be practical to increase by Ksh60 billion," Ichung'wah stated.
He added: "Having considered that, we thought it's only fair that we reject this amendment by the Senate to allow us to go into early mediation and, therefore, beg to move the House to reject in totality this proposal by the Senate."
Ichungwah's request was unanimously accepted by the lawmakers, who declined the Senate's request, further dragging the matter along.
The contentious matter has, in the recent past, caused delays to county revenue allocations as the two Houses went back and forth with the amounts feasible for county allocation.
In 2024, it took an 18-member joint mediation committee of Senators and MPs several meetings to even come close to striking a deal, while the counties grappled with a cash crunch.
On November 20, 2024, a resolution was seemingly reached on the disbursement of county funds on Wednesday, with the two Houses resolving that counties receive Ksh387 billion for the upcoming financial year.
“We cannot afford to give our counties less money than they received in the previous financial year. We have agreed unequivocally and unanimously that our counties deserve resources," the then-chair of the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, Ndindi Nyoro, stated.
"For that reason, we have reinstated the figure counties received in the previous financial year of Ksh385 billion. On top of that, we have made and provisioned additional resources to the tune of two billion to make our counties perform their duties efficiently."
Meanwhile, the Senators sought Ksh400 billion at the time, citing that several essential programs tied to non-discretionary expenditures totalling Ksh39.9 billion and linked to national government projects would be severely affected by the Ksh20 billion cut.
