Governors wants MPs to ammend BBI Bill on funds allocation

The Council of Governors (CoG) have vowed to pursue a raft of constitutional amendments through Parliament to ensure clauses envisaged for counties in the Building Bridges Initiative Bill are passed before 2022 polls.

This comes after the the landmark judgement by Court of Appeal that declared BBI Bill unconstitutional.

Speaking in Nairobi after a meeting, the Council of Governors Legal and Constitution Affairs Committee chairman Kiraitu Murungi said they will work with stakeholders including Legal Affairs committees of both Houses of Parliament to ensure the amendments are passed before the next general election.

“This is the moment to test the political will and genuineness of the political class especially those that were supporting the BBI to support the CoG-sponsored bill,” he said.

Kiraitu added that governors still support the spirit of BBI and the dream of ending divisive elections that result in electoral violence and ethnic antagonism.

He said that increased resources will ensure inclusivity as there would be development across all parts of the country.

“It was envisaged that through these amendments, county governments would have an increase in their equitable share from the current 16.9 per cent to not less than 35 per cent of the total revenue collected. This will enable the county governments to empower informal small scale traders, women, youth, persons with disabilities and the economically disadvantaged,” said the council in the statement.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior, who is also a member of Senate Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee said it was possible to collate all the issues that do not require a referendum and have them considered before the next polls.

He explained that such a Bill will require 90 days from first to second reading.

“Ideally, between first reading and second reading is 90 days. Since the clauses do not have any effects on the elections they can be done before the next polls,” said Mutula.

He however, noted that any amendments touching on the structure of the three arms of government will have to require a referendum based on the Court of Appeal judgement.

The senator explained that the implication of the judgement is that Bills before the House seeking to amend the Constitution so as to have MPs appointed to the Cabinet cannot proceed.

“A change of structure would require a referendum and to that extent, any Bill seeking to alter the composition of Parliament or any other arm of government cannot be effected without a referendum,” he said.

BBI Bill 2020 sought to amend 74 clauses out of which 51 do not require a referendum and can be amended through a parliamentary initiative.

Some of the clauses the governors are pushing for include the proposal to increase funds allocated to the counties from 15 per cent to 35 per cent.

This they said would ensure adequate resources for the devolved units.

The governors are also pushing for the creation of Ward Development Fund that is supposed to comprise of at least five per cent of all the county government’s revenue.

They also want amendments to the Higher Education Loan Board Act to create a four-year loan repayment moratorium for university students as well as amendment to the Micro and Small Enterprises Act, 2012 which proposes to give startups a 7-year tax break.

They are further pushing for Parliament to consider Article 202 on the Equitable sharing of national revenue which will ensure counties are adequately resourced.

According to the proposals, the amendment will ensure that revenue sharing will be based on the most recent audited accounts of revenue submitted by the Auditor General in the event the National Assembly has not approved the audited accounts.