Counties face funding shortfall as Parliament unveils 2024 division of revenue Bill

National Assembly Budget and Appropriation Committee Chairman Ndindi Nyoro has tabled a Division of Revenue Bill 2024, which shows how the National and County governments will share revenue for the 2024-2025 financial year.

In the Bill tabled in the National Assembly, out of the total Ksh.2.9 trillion sharable revenue, the national government will have the lion's share of Ksh.2.5 trillion while counties will get Ksh.391 billion and an equalization fund amounting to Ksh.7.8 billion.

The Bill, however, seems to have rubbed the Council of Governors (COG) the wrong way. The COG had presented their demands of Ksh.450 billion as their minimum revenue share estimates down from Ksh.470 billion proposed earlier.

The Commission on Revenue Allocation CRA had also proposed counties to be given Ksh.407 billion down from Ksh.416 billion after presentations to Treasury.

Budget Chair in the National Assembly and Kiharu lawmaker Ndindi Nyoro says the share given to counties is a Ksh.16.6 billion increase from the previous year's allocation.

According to Nyoro's bill, the national government continues to bear shortfalls in revenue, however, counties continue to receive their full allocation despite the budget cuts affecting national government entities.

According to the Bill, counties will have to be content with the 391 billion shillings that Ndindi Nyoro says translates to 24.9% of the audited accounts. The Budget Chairman says the government is grappling with financing constraints due to limited access to finance in the domestic and international markets.

Last week the CoG led by its Chair and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru appeared before the Senate Finance Committee and raised concerns over the national government's continued withholding of funds meant for devolved functions.

Waiguru said counties have not paid salaries since November last year, with other counties forced to seek overdrafts to sustain their employees at work.

She stated that they’re being chocked by a cash crunch that has been occasioned by the National Treasury's failure to release money meant for the devolved units since last year.