End impasse over cash Bill, lawmakers urged

A section of governors have called on the Senate and the National Assembly to resolve the stalemate between them over the Division of Revenue Bill as it was hurting counties.

The governors said the impasse was hampering development in the devolved units.

Dr Evans Kidero (Nairobi), Mr Patrick Khaemba (Trans Nzoia) and Mr Simon Kachapin (West Pokot) said the standoff was also adversely affecting budget making.

“We still feel that the National Assembly should soften its stance and let county governments have more funds to enable us to achieve the goals of devolution,” said Dr Kidero.

He spoke at a funds drive at St Brigid’s Kiminini Girls School in Trans Nzoia on Saturday.

Mr Khaemba concurred, saying that planning would be affected if the Bill was not passed by both Houses. He said county governments would be unable to prepare their estimates of revenue and expenditure.

The National Assembly had proposed to allocate Sh283.7 billion to counties, but the Senate raised the figure to Sh291.4 billion, creating the deadlock.

The two Houses have to agree on the Bill before it is forwarded to President Uhuru Kenyatta for assent.

Mr Kachapin said they would have no option but to give in to the call for the Pesa Mashinani push for a referendum if the national government denied them more funds.

“Devolution has brought about success stories since its inception in some regions that were marginalised, hence the need for more funding from the national government,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetang’ula said it was wrong for the national government to limit funding to counties on the pretext that there was a lot of corruption in the regions. “This is not a good reason to give them a small percentage of the national budget. There are mega-scandals in the national government yet it receives a huge percentage of the funds,” he said.