Counties have been allocated Sh385.4 billion shareable revenue following President William Ruto’s signing into law the County Allocation Revenue Bill, 2023 and the Equalisation Fund Appropriation Bill, 2023.
The two Bills will enable the 47 county governments to access funds in the new financial year that begins tomorrow.
Counties are routinely allocated an equitable share of revenue 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 Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) had however, recommended Sh407 billion as shareable revenue to devolved units.
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 Equalization Fund Act appropriates Sh10.3 billion for basic services — such as water, roads, electricity and health — to marginalized areas in the country.
Nairobi County Government will get the highest allocation of Sh20.07 billion while Lamu will get the least national government funding of Sh3 billion.
Sources within county assemblies confirm that 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 press.