Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has criticized National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi over the disbursement of county equitable share funds.
Speaking before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, November 20, Sifuna took issue with Mbadi’s statement that the Treasury could only release Ksh 380 billion, a figure previously rejected by the Senate.
The senator emphasized that the responsibility for determining the division of revenue among counties rests solely with Parliament.
“We as Parliament should not be the ones seeding power that is vested in Parliament to other organs of State. It cannot be possible that the Treasury CS is the one telling us that the only money he can give county governments is Sh380 billion. Then what is the role of Parliament?
“We should dissolve Parliament and let John Mbadi make all the decisions he wants to make on the money. I cannot afford the position that we are going to negotiate division of revenue in State House. If we have been given a constitutional mandate as parliament, let us do our job,” Sifuna remarked.
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On Monday, the Council of Governors (CoG) disclosed that it supported the Senate’s decision to retain the county allocation at Ksh400 billion after the National Assembly proposed a reduction of Ksh20 billion.
The governors noted that any reduction to the county equitable share will negatively affect service delivery.
“The Council takes great exception to the National Assembly’s decision to reduce the County Equitable Share by Kshs20 billion. Any reduction to county equitable share will negatively affect service delivery and grind the counties to a halt considering that the allocated amount of Kshs400. 117 billion is based on historical audited accounts,” CoG chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi stated.
