Governors plot to amend law on county revenue

Governors are plotting to amend the Constitution to raise the minimum amount of money that will be sent to the counties to at least three times the amount prescribed in the Constitution.

The Council of Governors, through its chairman, Isaac Ruto, told the Nation Monday that a Constitutional amendment Bill on the proposal is being drafted, and it will be ready “in the next ten days”.

“We have to amend the Constitution to fix the amount to be disbursed from the national government to the counties to something which is reasonable. Anything over Sh300 billion is reasonable,” said Mr Ruto.

The quest for more money for the counties comes against a backdrop of the failure by the National Government and the National Assembly to yield to the proposals of the governors, through their respective senators, to have Sh258 billion disbursed to the counties.

Haggling

Though the governors were eventually cornered to accept Sh210 billion that President Kenyatta approved when he signed the Division of Revenue Bill into law, they added that the haggling between the Senate and the National Assembly over money for counties is unnecessary.

The Bill targets article 203(2) of the Constitution which reads: “For every financial year, the equitable share of the revenue raised nationally that is allocated to county governments shall be not less than fifteen per cent of all revenue collected by the national government.”

Mr Ruto said the amount ought to be raised “so that the national government and the county governments share the revenues at 55-45 per cent”.

Mr Ruto, who is also the governor of Bomet, noted that many people had queries about the absorption capacity of the county governments, especially, given the fact that very little money has been going to the grassroots since independence.

“Turkana only got around Sh500 million that was spent in the whole county in a whole financial year. There was nothing to manage. Now, they are getting Sh6.5 billion. They will absorb all that money. There’s capacity,” said Mr Ruto.

Leader of Majority in the Senate Kithure Kindiki and a devolution expert Dr Conrad Bosire noted that the move to shore up resources to the counties was welcome. Prof Kindiki said he had not seen the Bill from the governors, but if it is done “in good faith” then the senators will support it.

Marshal support

Dr Bosire, a doctoral researcher at the University of the Western Cape, said the governors will have to get a friendly senator to help them push the legislation through the Senate, and also marshal support in the National Assembly to ensure the Bill also sails through.

“In South Africa, they devolve close to 50  per cent of the resources to the provincial governments…but in Kenya, this debate over resources for counties and national government has to be informed by proper data,” said Dr Bosire in an interview with the Nation.

He said both levels of government –the national government and the county governments—have to “objectively” discuss their roles, and have a look at the devolved functions, and then reach a compromise on how much of the national revenues should go to the national government and how much should go to the devolved units.

As the governors pursue their job, they will have to bear in mind the revenue allocation criteria developed by the Commission on Revenue Allocation and approved by Parliament;  the cost of running county government structures; the costing of the on-going devolved functions; and the need to “hold harmless” the allocation of services to the counties, so that services are not disrupted.

According to the Constitution, any Bill that deals with amending part of the Constitution that deals with devolution will have to be approved via a referendum, after both Houses of Parliament give their nod. So, after dealing with Parliament, the governors will have to convince the public that more money is required at the grassroots.

The chairman of the Council of Governors revealed that when governors met President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto, they promised the governors that they will have access to qualified staff of the national government to help run the counties.

“There’s so much (human resource) capacity. All you need is to get people who are ready to work with you. If I want a person, I just pick the person, we agree on the pay and they will work in the county. There are many people in the national government who will be laid off anyway,” said Mr Ruto.