Ruto assents to County Government's Additional Allocation Bill

President William Ruto assents to County Government's Additional Allocations Bill.[Photo,PSC]

President William Ruto has assented to the County Government's Additional Allocations Bill that seeks to provide an extra Sh46 billion to help counties dispatch their mandates.

The president enacted the law on March 4 at the State House, Nairobi where he expressed his satisfaction in the strides made to pass the bill.

President Ruto said that the government has additionally committed to release funding this month to support the counties.

"I am very happy that now we have resources that will support our counties, close to Sh.29 billion will be made available by this piece of legislation that has now become law," said Ruto.

The Bill has also set aside and allocated Sh454m to five counties for the construction of county headquarters offices.

The counties include Tana River, Tharaka Nithi, and Nyandarua.

President Ruto said the five counties did not inherit adequate facilities that could accommodate the new administration at the onset of devolution, hence their construction is at different levels of completion

The head of state was accompanied by both speakers of the National Assembly and senate, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Chair of the Council of Governors Ann Waiguru, and Head of Public Service Felix Kosgei among other leaders.

Kosegei while reading the statement before the president enacted it said that it reaffirms the administration's commitment to forcing inclusive development by strengthening devolution.

"This commitment is being furthered through a total additional allocation of Ksh.46.4b to the county governments for the financial year 2023/2024," said Kosgei.

The head of the public service said that the allocation of the resources is meant to enhance the implementation of the administration plan through the provision of fertilizer subsidies, county aggregated industrial parks, and support in the construction of county headquarters.

He added that the allocation of resources is intended to help in the provision of library services, enhancement of owned source revenue, Primary health care informal settlement improvement, and climate change interventions.

The Bill was introduced in the National Assembly on June 6, 2023, and was passed through the National Assembly and the Senate before it was approved in February this year.