The Senate Finance Committee is expected to meet governors and speakers of the 47 county assemblies over a Bill that determines the amount of funds allocated for devolved functions.The meeting came after complaints by governors that county governments were short-changed in the Division of Revenue Bill that is now before the Senate.The governors want the Senate to reconsider the equitable share for the 2017/18 financial year that they said is inadequate.MPs in the National Assembly reduced the equitable share from Sh299.1 billion that Treasury had proposed, to Sh291.1 billion.The figure was arrived at after CRA had proposed that devolved units be allocated shareable revenue of Sh331.6 billion and the senators be keen to understand how they arrived at the figure.If senators fail to agree with the National Assembly’s figure, the Bill will be subjected to a mediation committee of equal members from each House, to strike a compromise, before it is presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta for assent.The senate will also have to approve the County Allocation of Revenue Bill that divides among the counties the revenue allocated.The committee is also expected to seek the views of the new CRA commissioners over a move to set maximum amounts that counties can spend at a given time from their budgetary allocations.The county officials have termed the budget ceilings as unconstitutional saying county assemblies cannot effectively discharge their oversight roles if they cannot be allowed to control their expenditure.
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Kenya's National Assembly in Session