President Uhuru signs into law equitable division of revenue bill

President Uhuru Kenyatta assents into law the Equitable Division of Revenue Bill 2018/2019 at State House, Nairobi. [Photo/Standard]

Uhuru has signed into law a Bill on sharing of revenue between the national and county governments.

Counties will receive Sh372.7 billion in the 2018-2019 budget following President Uhuru Kenyatta's signing into law a Bill that will guide the sharing of revenue between counties and the national government.

The allocation is an increase of Sh33.3 billion from what they got in the previous year.

The Equitable Division of Revenue Bill will come as a relief to counties facing a cash crunch.

Senate Minority Whip Mutula Kilonzo Jr said should the need arise, the Senate will convene a special sitting to expedite the laws to allow the National Treasury to release the money to the counties.

“The Senate will resume sittings early next month when it will discuss the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, which allocates each county money for the whole year and a Cash Disbursement Cluster that determines how much a county gets monthly,” he said.

The Bill, sponsored by National Assembly Leader of Majority Aden Duale, was signed at State House Nairobi yesterday.

It provides for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally between the national and county governments.

Mr Kilonzo, who is also the Senate Minority Whip, said the Senate concurred with the National Assembly and passed the Bill in its entirety without making alterations.

The Sh33.3 billion represents 33.6 per cent of the latest audited revenues for 2013-2014 (Sh935.7 billion) and is above the constitutional minimum of 15 per cent.

The allocation comprises an equitable share of Sh314 billion and Sh58.7 billion.

Equitable share of revenue raised nationally was arrived at by growing the county governments’ equitable share for 2017-2018 of Sh302 billion by a growth factor of 4 per cent. This yielded an adjustment of the extra 12 billion.

The growth factor was agreed by the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council and determined after taking into account the fiscal framework that underpins the Budget Policy Statement for 2018-2019, which reflects a drop in fiscal deficits from 7.2 per cent of GDP in 2017-2018 to six per cent in 2018-2019.

Other factors included increase in debt service costs and a drop in national government ministerial expenditures.

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa said the Government would release funds to the counties to address the current crisis.

 “We know the issue of revenue allocation has been a thorn in the flesh but this will be sorted even before the devolution conference,” said Mr Wamalwa in Naivasha.