Kakamega County's top leadership on Saturday, April 22, engaged in a public disagreement over funds approved by Senators for the devolved units.
Kenya Kwanza Senators on Thursday, April 20, shot down an amendment to grant counties Ksh407 billion and instead approved Ksh385.4 billion, a decision that angered Kakamega County Governor Fernades Barasa.
"The mandate of the Senate is to protect Devolution. Shame on the twenty-two Senators who voted against the allocation of Ksh. 407 Billion to Counties, led by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale," Barasa Fernandes stated.
In response, Khalwale sought to clear his name, terming Barasa's claims as baseless since the devolved units had not fully utilised what was allocated.
"Chief, budgeting is meant to fix both national and county needs. We increased county allocation by Ksh15.4 billion to Ksh385.4 billion.
"You wanted us to increase by Ksh22 bilion. Use that Ksh15.4 billion increment first as we fix the public debt mess that was created by Uhuru (former President Uhuru Kenyatta) and Raila (former Prime Minister Raila Odinga)," Senator Khalwale claimed.
Finance Committee had proposed an amendment to the Division of Revenue Bill, 2023 from the National Assembly as previously recommended by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA).
An attempt to amend the Bill failed after the Kenya Kwanza wing in the Senate outnumbered Azimio la Umoja Legislators.
Khalwale and 21 other Kenya Kwanza Senators opposed the amendment by the Finance Committee to give counties Ksh37 billion more in the financial year ending June 2024, up from the current Ksh370 billion.
As per the approvals, the county governments will receive Ksh15 billion more as an equitable share in the next financial year, much less than Barasa expected. The governor squarely blamed it on his senator, Boni Khalwale.
Clearly outnumbered, Azimio la Umoja Senators resorted to holding a press conference in which they castigated their Kenya Kwanza counterparts for denying counties the much-needed funds by going against CRA’s recommendation.
Led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the Azimio la Umoja Senators claimed they were the only ones who advocated for devolution by pushing for more funds.
