- According to CoG chairperson Anne Waiguru, the talks which had last week ended in a stalemate have borne no fruitful agreement.
- Waiguru urged the National Treasury to adopt the CoG proposal of Sh450 billion allocation to counties.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A/FILE
Talks between the Council of Governors and the National Treasury over revenue sharing have once again hit a dead end.
According to CoG chairperson Anne Waiguru, the talks which had last week ended in a stalemate have borne no fruitful agreement, even after they agreed to form a task team to further deliberate to achieve a consensus on the amount to be shared between the two levels of government.
"We however note with concern, that after lengthy discussions and analysis of the proposed recommendations by the task team, the three parties retained divergent positions on their proposed figures for shareable revenue," Waiguru said in a statement on Monday.
The task team comprised members from the CoG, Commission on Revenue Allocation and the National Treasury.
The CoG chair noted that while they came up with a figure of Sh439.5 billion as equitable share to the counties and Sh10.52 billion as Road Maintenance Levy Fund, the National Treasury proposed Sh391 billion and the CRA proposed Sh398.14 billion.
Waiguru urged the National Treasury to adopt the CoG proposal of Sh450 billion allocation to counties.
She noted that the allocation will ensure county governments are cushioned from the rising cost of inflation across various devolved sectors.
The CoG chair also cited rising operations and maintenance costs in counties, the need for a commensurate adjustment for revenue growth, and the provision of an allocation towards county employees’ annual salary incremental cost.
Waiguru added that the allocation will also factor in emerging items that will occasion additional expenditure by Counties such as the new mandatory National Social Security Fund, Social Health Insurance Fund and Housing Levy contributions.
"We therefore call upon the national government to reconsider their position given the aforementioned budgetary items. This will allow Counties to execute their mandate and ensure efficient service delivery on their assigned functions," she said.
Over the last few weeks, the CoG has been pushing for additional funding from the national government.
On January 25, the CoG met Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro who chairs the National Assembly’s budget committee over the same.
After the meeting, she said they were closer to reaching a solution.
On January 29, they held a meeting with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) where they agreed to form the task teams.