Governors to sue government over budget slash, protest revenue formula

Deputy President William Ruto, Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, his deputy Muranga Governor Mwangi wa Iria, Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso and National Treasury CS Henry Rotich during the 11th Ordinary Session of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic (IBEC) at Karen. [DPPS]

Governors have threatened to go to court to stop the proposed budget cuts as announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta last September.

Council of Governors (CoG) chair Wycliffe Oparanya on Tuesday told a meeting of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC), which is chaired by Deputy President William Ruto, that if it could not resolve the issue, they would seek the President’s intervention.

“If not handled convincingly at these levels, then counties will have no option but to move to court,” said Mr Oparanya.

The meeting, which was held at Dr Ruto’s official residence in Karen, was attended by governors, Cabinet secretaries and some State officers.

Last year, Uhuru suggested a raft of austerity measures to claw back nearly Sh53 billion from the budgets of Parliament and counties. He also suggested slashing funding for other programmes in an attempt to raise money to fund his administration’s development agenda.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the county chiefs criticised the Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) over a proposed new formula for sharing revenue. They said if it was adopted by the Senate, “rich” counties would get more money at the expense of marginalised devolved units.

As the session progressed, the governors and a team from the National Treasury argued over the move to slash their allocation to Sh304.9 billion.

Stormed out

At one point the governors stormed out of the meeting and left the Treasury team alone, as the DP watched in amazement.

The governors in attendance included Anyang’ Nyong’o (Kisumu), Mwangi wa Iria (Murang’a), Joseph ole Lenku (Kajiado), Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), Kiraitu Murungi (Meru), Sospeter Ojaamong’ (Busia), Wycliffe Wangamati (Bungoma), Joyce Laboso (Bomet), Stephen Sang (Nandi) and Dhadho Godhana (Tana River).

The governors said they had made numerous concessions during previous deliberations in the budget-making cycle, with Oparanya adding that the national government should stop telling counties to tighten their belts.

“The Treasury shows that the economy is doing well. Debt is going down yet counties have to face a reduction in their allocation. Counties are not agreeable to the cut because this is unfair treatment,” said Oparanya.

Mr Wangamati wondered how the Big Four agenda would be implemented in the devolved unites if county governments were unable to fully discharge their financial obligations.

“On the matter of conditional grants for Level 5 hospitals, some counties are not getting funds thus we request the national government to ensure that they receive their allocations,” he said.

National Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge, however, said the proposed budget cut was due to many factors, including under-performance of the revenue raised nationally.

“This is the implication of the vertical revenue division. The proposed way forward is a reduction of county equitable share for the financial year 2018/2019 by Sh9.04 billion from Sh314 billion to 304.9 billion,” said Dr Thugge.