Ruto Signs Two Crucial County Bills Into Law

President William Ruto on Friday signed into law the County Allocation Revenue Bill, 2023 and the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Bill, 2023.

The two Bills will enable the 47 devolved units to access funds in the new financial year that begins tomorrow.

The County Allocation Revenue Act allocates counties Sh385.4 billion shareable revenue. The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) had however recommended Sh407 billion as shareable revenue.

Counties are allocated an equitable share of revenue unconditionally in the national government’s annual budget cycle to enable them to have the autonomy to plan, budget and implement development projects based on county priorities.

The devolved units however have to raise additional funding for the operations through their own source revenue (OSR) and conditional grants as their budget estimates may not be covered comprehensively in the equitable revenue share.

The Equalisation Fund Act appropriates Sh 10.3 Billion for basic services — such as water, roads, electricity and health — to marginalised areas in the country.

Nairobi County Government will get the highest allocation of Sh 20.07 billion while Lamu will get the least national government funding of Sh3 billion.

According to local dailies, Counties were last night in a rush to rally Members of County Assembly (MCAs) to pass the budget estimates for the 2023/24 Financial Year.

While Nairobi, and Nyanza counties of Kisumu, Homa Bay and Siaya passed their budget yesterday, other counties including Mandera, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Garissa, Mombasa, Kilifi, Trans Nzoia, and Kajiado were yet to table their budget estimates as of the time of going to the press.

“Kilifi and Nyamira are reportedly preparing to table their budgets today while Mombasa Deputy Speaker Fadhili Makarani said the tabling of the budget is still pending as the assembly is still on recess.
Uasin Gishu, Narok, Taita Taveta, Kitui, Makueni, Nyeri, Murang’a, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Nandi, Wajir, Kisii and Bomet are among the counties that have passed their budgets either last week or this week,” PD reported on Friday.