Counties to get Sh378bn as Uhuru signs into law revenue bill

President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019 into law at State House in Nairobi on September 17, 2019. FILE PHOTO | PSCU

What you need to know:

  • State House said, the national treasury has already disbursed over Sh50 billion to counties for the months of July and August.

President Uhuru Kenyatta Tuesday signed into law the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019 paving the way for the release of funds to counties.

The new law allocates Sh378.1 billion to county governments for the 2019/20 financial year.

BUDGETS

Out of the total allocation, Sh316.5 billion is the equitable share of national revenue while Sh61.6 billion are conditional allocations to the devolved units.

The total allocation of Sh378.1 billion to county governments represents 36. 46 percent of the audited and approved revenue of the national government for the financial year 2018/19 against the constitutional threshold of 15 percent.

State House said, the national treasury has already disbursed over Sh50 billion to counties for the months of July and August.

With the new law in place, the President reiterated the government’s commitment to scheduled disbursement of funds to counties to enable them to continue delivering services to Kenyans.

He urged county governments to finalise their budget processes which should prioritise settlement of pending payments to suppliers such as the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency for medical supplies to facilitate the delivery of the ongoing Universal Health Coverage program.

President Kenyatta further urged county governments to come up with better systems of collecting and managing their own revenue.

Present during the signing of the Bill were acting Treasury CS Ukur Yattani, Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki and Treasury PS Dr Julius Muia among others.

The approval comes after a long struggle between the National Assembly and the Senate over the amount of funds to be allocated to counties in the current financial year.

But the stalemate ended two weeks ago after the senators, led by Kipchumba Murkomen and James Orengo, agreed to settle for the Sh316 billion as approved by Parliament.