•Senators vote to increase allocation to Sh391 billion from Sh371 billion.
•They say the Managed Equipment Services is laced with mystery.
Image: FILE
Senators have voted to stop funding the Sh38 billion leased medical equipment to counties, putting the project in jeopardy.
The lawmakers scrapped the Sh6.2 billion allocated to the counties to fund the Managed Equipment Services by the National Assembly, arguing that the programme is shrouded in mystery.
Counties have been paying Sh200 million per year, deducted at source.
At the meantime, the senators increased the allocation to counties to Sh391 billion from Sh371 billion passed by MPs.
In the Division of Revenue Bill 2019, tabled in the House, the senators proposed the equitable share to be increased to Sh335.5 billion from Sh310 billion approved by MPs.
They also want Sh55.4 billion conditional grants advanced to the counties in the 2019-20 financial year.
The vote means there will be a statement in the passage of the Bill to fund the counties' operations. The Bill will now go to a mediation committee selected by the two Houses.
Senate Finance chair Mohamed Mahamud (Mandera) asked why the National Assembly and the National Treasury slashed the allocation that had been previously proposed by the Commission of Revenue Allocation.
MPs approved Sh310 billion as the equitable share to the counties and gave the national government Sh1.561 trillion in the next financial year.
He said the baseline used by the National Treasury for the equitable share started from Sh304 billion which is less than the 15 per cent minimum threshold provided in the Constitution.
“We support the counties to get Sh335 billion based on the CRA formula. We must reject in totality the attempt by the National Assembly to reduce the allocation,” Mahamud said.
He said the Senate will not accept any reduction of the Sh314 billion as the baseline for revenue allocation for the equitable share and will also not allow any re-allocation.
“Counties cannot be punished for the failure of the National Treasury to meet the national revenue projections. That mandate of generating revenue squarely lies with the Treasury,” he said.
Bungoma's Moses Wetangula said the Bill must be passed in an "extremely qualified manner" by carrying out major amendments and enable the counties to get more funds.
He explained that counties cannot live by reduction, adding that governors used to cut deals with Inter-governmental Budget and Economic Council but have since rejected their overtures on the revenue allocation.
“Treasury cannot purport to allocate itself the authority it does not have,” he said.
“The ghost of killing devolution has begun from Treasury Buildings. Division of revenue must increase. It is inconsistent to have a reduction of Sh9 billion for counties yet we have not seen a reduction in the national government allocation including the Constituency Development Fund,” Mutula Kilonzo Jr said.
He said counties have paid Sh450 million since the inception of the medical equipment lease, a move he termed as outright fraud.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)