Counties have been spared Sh30 billion budget cut, says Oparanya
By Bernard Gitau, April 29, 2020
Bernard Gitau @benagitau
The National Treasury has dropped the proposal to cut allocation to counties by Sh30 billion, the Council of Governors said yesterday.
CoG chair Wycliffe Oparanya said the decision was reached after a consultative meeting with Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani.
Oparanya also attributed the reversal to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s intervention.
Treasury had revised its revenue projections with the Covid-19 pandemic taking a heavy toll on Kenya Revenue Authority targets.
“CoG held a consultative meeting with the National Treasury. It was agreed that there will be no reduction of the Sh30 billion County Equitable share for 2019/20 financial year,” said Oparanya, who was accompanied by Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati.
Oparanya said the move would have seen the operations at counties disrupted and thanked President for intervening.
Counties have been allocated Sh316.5 billion in equitable share through the 2020 Division of Revenue Bill.
The bill, which outlines how to share revenue between the national and county governments, now goes to the Senate.
Under the proposals, Sh1.53 trillion will go to the national government, Sh316.5 billion to counties, Sh13.73 billion in conditional grants from the government, Sh9.43 billion for road maintenance and Sh6.53 billion for the Equalisation Fund.
Sh2,000 stipend
The allocations are based on the Sh1.357 trillion in audited accounts of the 2016/17 financial year as approved by the National Assembly last year.
CoG has also thanked Uhuru for ensuring county governments receive Sh5 billion to supplement their effort towards the Covid-19 response.
Oparanya also said national government had identified one million vulnerable Kenyans across the country who would benefit from Sh2,000 per month.
“The pilot project is going on in Nairobi where 5,000 people have benefitted. The roll out will continue in counties with partial lockdown, that is Kilifi, Mombasa, Mandera, Kwale,” he said.