The Council of Governors (CoG) led by Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya have rubbished reports by the acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani that Counties have already received Ksh50 billion, a portion of total revenue pending to be released to County Governments.
“The Council of Governors is shocked by the statement of the Acting (Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury Mr. Ukur Yatani that fifty billion (Ksh50B) has been disbursed to County Governments.” Reads the report.
The Governors said the money could only be channeled to Counties once the County Allocation Revenue Act was approved and immediately gazetted as per the constitution.
“This is not true as money can only be disbursed to County Governments once the County Allocation Revenue Act (CARA) is approved and disbursement schedule gazetted to facilitate the withdrawal through the office of the Controller of Budget.”
The report comes barely a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta ascended to the Division of Revenue Bill 2019, a move which paves way for the release of Funds to Counties.
The new law allocates Ksh378.1 billion to county governments for the 2019/20 financial year. Out of the total allocation, Ksh316.5 billion is the equitable share of national revenue while Ksh61.6 billion are conditional allocations to the devolved units.
The total allocation of Ksh378.1 billion to county governments represents 36. 46 percent of the audited and approved revenue of the National Government for the financial year 2018/19 against the constitutional threshold of 15 percent.
