The sharing of national resources has been a source of conflict since independence. The independence constitution had created a system in which wealth distribution was controlled by the centre and distributed largely on political considerations and at the whims of the Executive.

The situation is blamed for the systematic marginalisation of certain regions of the country that would only find relief in the creation of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) whose mandate is to ensure equitable sharing of the national cake.

That is why its new members who were sworn in yesterday should heed Chief Justice Martha Koome’s call to address marginalisation when making recommendations on sharing the country’s national revenue.

With both National and County governments held hostage with a huge public debt, increasing pending bills and slow economic growth, there is little headroom for more taxes, the commissioners must make the right recommendations on sharing of revenue to ease economic planning and pains.

Commissioners must deal with elusive transparency in the collection of the county’s own source revenue and ensure that it is used to empower targeted communities. There has been reluctance by counties to declare the use of own-source revenue, creating the impression that they are only beneficiaries of the national allocation.

Failure to maximise on their full potential has forced counties to rely on equitable cash from the National Treasury to pay staff salaries and finance basic services in a move that has seen critical sectors such as health and roads being allocated inadequate funds.

Findings by a tax gap impact report by CRA and World Bank suggest that county governments currently generate only 40 per cent of the maximum revenues that they can raise. Counties should adopt innovative processes to improve source revenue and avoid dependence on the national kitty.

There has been a demonstration by some counties that increased revenue generation is possible through sealing of corruption gaps, use of technology and adoption of best business practices. The commission must demand fidelity to the 70:30 rule in regard to recurrent and development spending, respectively.

Further, the CRA must help the Council of Governors fast-track the development of an integrated County Revenue Management system for efficiency. The commission must also fast-track the development of model tariffs and pricing policy. 

More importantly, CRA should work with other oversight bodies to ensure that Wanjiku is involved in decision-making on resource allocation both at the national and county level.