Ruto assents to County Governments Additional Allocation Bill

President William Ruto on Monday assented to the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill that seeks to provide an extra Sh46 billion to the devolved units.

The bill that was published on May 24, 2023, was sponsored by the Chairperson, of the Budget and Appropriations Committee Ndindi Nyoro.

"The Bill was considered by both Houses of Parliament, where it was introduced in the National Assembly on June 6, 2023, and passed on June 27, 2023, without amendments. Thereafter, the Bill was forwarded to the Senate, which considered and passed it on October 12, 2023, with amendments and referred it back to the National Assembly for consideration," read a communication from State House.

Among the key highlights in the bill include provision of the additional allocations to county governments for the Financial Year 2023/2024.

The Bill provides a total additional allocation of Kshs. 46,362,301,459 to counties for the FY 2023/24, divided into four allocations as contained hereunder.

"Out of the total additional allocations of Sh46.3 billion to counties, the Additional allocations from the national government’s share of revenue is Sh10.1 billion which has been set aside for  the implementation of projects."

The Bill has set aside and allocated Sh454 million to five counties for the construction of county headquarters offices.

The County Governments to benefit are Isiolo, Lamu, Tana River, Tharaka Nithi, and Nyandarua.

President William Ruto after he assented to the County Governments Additional Allocations Bill at State House, Nairobi on March 4, 2024. (Photo: PCS)

According to State House, the five counties did not inherit adequate facilities that could accommodate the new administration at the onset of devolution, and their construction are at different levels of completion.

Conditional grants

The Bill further contains national government expenditures on devolved functions converted to additional conditional grants, totalling Sh4.1 billion.

The resources are allocated to the Livestock Value Chain Support Project (Sh1.6 billion), the De-Risking and Value Enhancement (DRIVE) Project (Sh2.1 billion) and the Kenya Marine Fisheries and Socio-Economic Development (KEMFSED) project (Sh320 million).

Further, the Bill grants conditional allocations from proceeds of loans and grants from development partners totalling Sh29 billion for the implementation of key projects which include the IDA-(World Bank) credit (National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project), the German Development Bank (KfW)- Drought Resilience Programme in Northern Kenya and the World Bank - Emergency Locust Response Project among others.

Initially, the National Assembly considered and rejected the Senate’s amendments on November 23, 2023, which essentially committed the Bill to a Mediation Committee in accordance with the provisions of Articles 112(2)(b) and 113 of the Constitution.

This then called for a Mediation Committee to be appointed by the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament in a bid to end the stalemate.

"On 20th February 2024, the Mediation Committee agreed on a version of the County Governments Additional Allocations (National Assembly Bill No. 23 of 2023)  which they proposed to both Houses of Parliament for passage," read the communication.

This then made the National Assembly and the Senate respectively consider and approve the version of the Bill proposed by the Mediation Committee.