County governments are now a step away from getting the much-awaited revenue after senators on Tuesday voted to approve a bill to allow disbursement of their cash allocations.
All the thirty-eight lawmakers present in the debating chamber voted to approve the County Allocation of Revenue (CARA) Bill, 2020.
The bill now awaits the approval of the National Assembly before it is sent to President Uhuru Kenyatta for signing into law to allow the cash-strapped counties to get money.
The devolved units are in a financial ditch and have scaled down operations following a standoff in the Senate over the third basis for sharing revenue among counties.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has already indicated that Sh60 billion is ready for disbursement to the counties once all the legislations are in place.
The Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o said the counties, except three which have not submitted their budgets, are free to access the cash once the enabling laws are passed.
The law splits among the 47 counties the Sh316.5 billion allocated to them in the 2020-21 budget. The bill had stalled in the House for six months following the deadlocked formula.
The lawmakers passed the formula after 10 failed attempts that were characterised by arrests and claims of intimidation, bribery and blackmail.
This was after the President committed to allocate the counties an additional Sh53.5 billion in the next financial year to ensure no county gets less than the amount they received in the last financial year.
“This formula brings to rest a protracted, winding, noisy and messy debate in the House that has now come to an abrupt end,” Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula said.
The senators were split over a proposed formula that would cut allocation to 18 counties by Sh17 billion.
On Tuesday, Senate deputy speaker Margaret Kamar communicated to the House a message from National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi on the approval of the formula.
Edited by Henry Makori
