National Assembly and Senate to meet over Grants Bill

A Bill seeking to create a legal framework for disbursement of conditional grants from the national government and donors to county governments has hit legislative speed bumps after the Senate rejected amendments made by the National Assembly.

Consequently, the County Governments Grants Bill, 2021 will move to mediation by a joint committee of the National Assembly and Senate, following Senate rejection on December 21.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi announced yesterday said that five MPs from the National Assembly will team up with an equal number of senators to come up with a streamlined Bill.

The committee will comprise senators Charles Kibiru (Kirinyaga), Moses Wetangula (Bungoma), Mutula Kilonzo Junior (Makueni), Rose Nyamunga (Kisumu) and Farhiya Ali (Wajir).

The members from the National Assembly are Kanini Kega (Kieni), Dr Kanyuithia Mutunga (Tigania West), Naisula Lesuuda (Samburu West), Millie Odhiambo (Mbita) and Dr Makali Mulu (Kitui Central).?

“I call upon the Members of the Committee to embark on the process of developing a mediated version of the said Bill within the timeline contemplated under Article 113(3) of the Constitution,” the deputy speaker said.

The committee is expected to finalise its task after 30 days from the first meeting.

Cheboi gave further guidance to the committee to confine itself to the “contentious clauses of the Bill as well as any other consequential clauses.”

The clauses identified by Cheboi as source of the disagreement in the state of the Bill include: amendments by the National Assembly to have the National Treasury as the prime facilitator of any agreement between a county government and a development partner with a prerequisite as well as tabling such agreements in the National Assembly and the Senate before inclusion in the Budget Policy Statement.

The amendments have stark differences with the initial Senate Bill which required the National Treasury to enter into an agreement with the respective counties which involves a layered process consisting the county assembly, county executive, the public, the Senate and Treasury.  

Other amendments include deleting the word “grants” and “conditional” and replacing it with “additional allocation”, which the Senate Finance and Budget Committee says overhauls the principle of the Bill and converts it into a money Bill.

The Bill was first tabled before Senate in May 2021 after the High Court ruled out the allocation of conditional grants from the Division of Revenue Bill.

According to the court, only matters of division of nationally raised revenue between the national and county government are to be included in the Division of Revenue Bill.