Tuesday, 17 June, 2025
Division of Revenue negotiations continue as the green light beckons
Parliament Buildings Monday, 16th June 2025
The Mediation Committee on the Division of Revenue Bill, 2025, continued with its deliberations today, aimed at coming up with an agreeable version of the Bill.
These mediation negotiations come after the National Assembly allocated Kshs405.1 billion to county governments for the 2025/2026 Financial Year, but the Senate disagreed, allocating Kshs465 billion as County Equitable Share, necessitating mediation.
In a heated meeting held at Parliament Buildings, the Senators, led by Mandera Senator Ali Roba, started the meeting with a hardline stance, urging their counterparts in the National Assembly to consider allocating Kshs435 billion to counties as shareable revenue.
They suggested that all additional functions transferred from the national government to county governments be accompanied by the necessary costing to ensure that counties are adequately resourced.
“In the current budget, Kshs2 billion has been allocated to provide maternity services in level 3 and 4 hospitals. Primary healthcare is devolved and, therefore, this money should be sent to the counties,” Sen. Eddy Oketch submitted.
Sen. William Kisang’ (Elgeyo Marakwet) supported Sen. Eddy’s suggestion by beseeching the Members of Parliament to consider approving the 2023/2024 audit report, which is the last audited accounts submitted by the Auditor General, as the basis for the county's shareable revenue.
Sen. Boni Khalwale (Kakamega) explained that the Senate is not seeking an additional allocation for counties so that the national government’s state departments can lose, but pushing so that counties can be given what is rightfully theirs.
Members of the National Assembly, led by the Member of Parliament for Alego Usonga Constituency, Hon. Sam Atandi, submitted that with the current financial constraints that the country’s economy is experiencing, it would be hard to allocate Kshs435 billion to counties.
They submitted that since the Finance Bill 2025 is not generating much revenue for the country, it would be catastrophic to allocate more money to counties, which we do not currently have.
“The finance bill is not generating much revenue. Where will we get the additional funds? Let us give counties what is reasonable,” Hon. Marianne Kitany (Aldai) enquired.
Hon. Owen Baya (Kilifi North) urged the Senate not to work with figures but reality and allocate what is available to counties, not what they ought to receive.
“With the current inflation and economic crisis, we need to think through so that we can settle on a reasonable figure,” Hon. Zamzam Mohamed (Mombasa) said.
The meeting ended with the Senate demanding Kshs428 billion, while the National Assembly suggested Kshs409.5 billion as the county's equitable share.