Team wants Sh30bn for counties

The Commission on Revenue Allocation wants all the counties to get Sh30 billion as soon as governors and county assembly representatives get elected in the March 4, 2013 polls.

CRA boss Micah Cheserem on Sunday said the amount will be the remaining quota of the 15 per cent of national revenue— being the minimum allocation that is due to all the 47 counties in the current financial year.

“According to the Constitution, at least 15 per cent of all national revenue shall be shared equitably. That means, for the current financial year, that 15 per cent is Sh90 billion. But, by the time the county governments take effect, it will be four months to the end of the financial year. This means they will get Sh30 billion because there will only be one-third of the year left,” Mr Cheserem told the Nation.

He said governors and county assembly representatives will need money to provide services to the people.

The Treasury had decided to provide only Sh6 billion for the counties, claiming that very few of the functions of the county governments would have been devolved in the last quarter of the current year but Mr Cheserem said the law was clear as to what amount was due to the devolved units.

He warned that if the Treasury does not release all the money, it is likely to spawn a crisis.

At the same time, the Cabinet has firmly placed implementation of devolved government on course by approving required Bills and funds to bring the new system into force.

A meeting held at State House on Thursday passed four crucial Bills on financing of county government and factored the costs to establish the devolved units in a Sh73.2 billion Supplementary Budget.

Among the proposed laws approved was the Division of Revenue Bill 2012, which seeks to put in place the ration of sharing revenue between the two levels of government.

Even though the Constitution states that counties should receive at least 15 per cent of national revenue, the Bill raises the allocation to 20.1 percent. The national government will get 79.5 per cent of the estimated Sh968 billion revenue. Marginalised counties will get an additional 0.5 per cent.

Other Bills that were approved include County Allocation of Revenue Bill, Transition to County Allocation of Revenue Bill and Transition to County Governments Appropriation Bill 2012.