NAIROBI: The Senate and the National Assembly are rushing against time to resolve a standoff over the changes made to the Division of Revenue Bill, 2015, which determines how to share the national cake between the levels of government.
Parliament has only one week to pass the Bill and meet the April 30 constitutional deadline, failure to which both levels of government might face serious financial crunches over the delay. The current impasse on the Bill has set the stage for mediation after the National Assembly rejected the Sh7.7billion adjustments made by the Senate to adequately resource counties.
If the Houses agree, Counties will receive Sh 291billion up from Sh283.7billion approved by the National Assembly, with Sh 259.7billion shared equitably among the 47 counties, while Sh30.1billion as conditional allocation. This lasted development come, even as various devolution stakeholders urged county governments to exercise prudence in the management of public funds.
Further Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has demanded value for pay for Wanjiku, saying a lot of money is spent on salaries yet the output is minimal, taking issue with the sitting allowances paid to Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs).