The ongoing revenue allocation stalemate facing the National Assembly and the Senate has forced President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and is now demanding for speedy action.
Speaking in Nakuru on Wednesday, the Head of State ordered the Members of Parliament to act quickly to ensure that counties get their share of the available funds because any further delay will deny Kenyans the services they need.
“Why can you not pass the Bill so that people can get services. Reach an agreement so that we can release funds to counties,” the angry Uhuru questioned.
Uhuru further reminded MPs that the Government does not have unlimited resources and should bear in mind that what the National Government has been allocating to counties is much more higher than the threshold set by the Constitution.
“The Constitution says we give a minimum of 15 percent to counties. Within one year I took it to over 30 percent.I want to acknowledge my believe that devolution is working. What we need now is to focus on the agenda of delivering for the people who put us in leadership,” he added.
The Senate National Assembly stalemate is now entering in the fourth month after the Senate rejected the reduction of the allocation to the counties by a whooping Sh9 billion.
In the current financial year, the base was set at Sh314 billion, but the National Treasury said this is no longer tenable because of revenue shortfalls.
In total, the senators want the counties to receive Sh391 billion in the next 2019-20 financial year, inclusive of the conditional allocation of Sh55.4 billion.
The grants include Sh4.3 billion for level-four hospitals, Sh2 billion for rehabilitation of polytechnics and Sh900 million for compensation of user fees forgone.