Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya has warned of tough times ahead for county workers, saying that the National Treasury might delay in disbursing funds meant for salaries following the stalled mediation on Division of Revenue Bill between the National Assembly and the Senate.
County government employees and service providers are set to go without pay after revenue-sharing negotiation between the national government and counties collapsed.
The crucial Bill which seeks to allocate funds between the two levels of government has left the Senate and the National Assembly sharply divided.
The two sides have different figures for what is due to the counties.
While the National Assembly has proposed that counties get Sh316 billion, the Senate insists that the law must be respected and counties allowed to get their due share.
In the initial Bill, the National Assembly had allocated Sh310 billion to counties as their share of the equitable shareable revenue, which was in line with National Treasury’s proposals. The Senate amended the Bill and placed the figure at Sh327 billion.
The National Treasury, however, proposed a reduction in county equitable share of Sh310 from Sh314 billion on account of underperformance of revenue that resulted to a downward adjustment of the forecasted revenue for the 2018/19 financial year. A move which the Council of Governors and the Commission on Revenue Allocation opposed.
