22 Kenya Kwanza Senators on Thursday, April 20, voted against the Division of Revenue Bill amendment that would have allocated more money to county governments.
Governors had demanded Ksh425 billion as the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) recommended. Governors will thus receive Ksh385billion as an equitable share to the counties in the 2023/24 financial year.
The amount would have increased by Ksh15 billion if the motion had passed.
Additionally, the proposed share to the counties is 24.5 per cent, which is above the constitutional provision of at least 15 per cent of the last audited accounts of revenue of the national government.
In the proposed amendments, the counties had also been allocated Ksh44 billion in conditional allocations and Ksh4.7 billion to construct industrial centres and parks.
"22 Senators allied to Kenya Kwanza have voted against an amendment to the Division of Revenue Bill that would have seen Counties receive Ksh407 billion instead of the Ksh385 billion passed by the National Assembly," Nairobi senator, Edwin Sifuna, lamented.
"County Governments denied money by the Kenya Kwanza administration. All those who voted against the amendment, including all jubilee senators, must now be reminded that Choices have serious consequences," his colleague, Ledama Olekina, added.
The Senators stated that the amendment of the bill by the National Assembly would be a setback to the implementation of devolution.
If the National Assembly fails to agree with changes made by the Senate concerning the Bill, it will be presented before the mediation committee that consists of an equal number of members drawn from the two houses.
However, if the mediation committee fails to come up with an agreeable version, the Bill will stand lost, and will affect the delivery of critical services like health, security and water among others creating a financial crisis.
This is because the National Treasury cannot publish budget estimates for the national government and present them to the National Assembly by April 30, or at least 30 days to the end of the financial year, for passage before the Division of Revenue Act is in place.
The Bill had earlier in March 2023 introduced, debated and passed by the National Assembly.
