• This is the second time the bill is being introduced in the Senate. A similar bill collapsed in the 12th Parliament.
• In the previous bill, Sh31.88 billion was allocated to counties from loans and grants from development partners.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
The Council of Governors could be headed for a bitter clash with the National Treasury over alleged slashing of Sh7 billion grants for the counties.
CoG vice chairman Ahmed Abdullahi (Wajir) and the council’s finance committee chairman Fernandes Barasa made the revelations before a Senate committee as they demanded the release of the fund.
“There is a total of about Sh7 billion reduction between what was agreed in the financing agreement and what the bill proposes,” Abdullahi said during a meeting with the Senate’s Finance and Budget committee.
The county bosses had been invited to give their views on the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill, which allocates various conditional and unconditional grants to devolved units.
“A total of Sh7 billion is under various projects and programmes under various funding of additional or conditional grants. The Treasury has not given us a valid explanation for that reduction,” the Wajir governor said.
Also present at the meeting chaired by Mandera Senator Ali Roba were governors Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni) and Abdulswamad Shariff (Mombasa).
This is the second time the bill is being introduced in the Senate. A similar bill collapsed in the 12th Parliament.
In the previous bill, Sh31.88 billion was allocated to counties from loans and grants from development partners.
However, in the new bill, which will come for the second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, Sh23.70 billion from loans and development partners has been allocated.
“We are asking, why has this allocation reduced in the new bill? The more than Sh7 billion that has been slashed is material and will affect implementation of programmes and projects they are meant for,” Abdullahi said.
In their submission, Barasa said that out of the more than Sh7 billion, Sh2.09 billion has been deducted from conditional allocation by a World Bank loan to finance the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project.
The new bill allocates the counties Sh2 billion under the programme.
“We are urging the Senate and Parliament at large to revise the total allocation for FY 2022-23 amounts to Sh4.09 billion,” Barasa said.
The Kakamega governor also told the committee that Sh636.86 million has been removed from the Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) programme funded by the World Bank.
Some Sh517 million has also been slashed from World Bank credit to the Financing Locally-Led Climate Action Programme (FLLoCA) for County Climate Institutional Support (CCIS).
“The amount provided for in the bill Sh517 million is the total allocation for the current FY 2022-23 only.”
“The allocation for the previous FY 2021-22 amounting to Sh517 million was not disbursed hence the need to be included in the current FY to bring the total to Sh1.03 billion. That is, Sh22 million per county."
The governors urged the senators to fast-track the passage of the bill to unlock the release of funds for projects and programmes currently at risk of stalling.
The Treasury has been withholding for lack of enabling legislation for their release for utilisation by the counties.
“The Senate to fast-track passage of the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill, 2022 to enable utilisation of funds as budgeted for under the current FY 2022-23,” Barasa said.