“The Rejected Finance Bill Should Not Be The Gun To Kill County Governments”

I have read with concerns the President’s statement concerning the reorganization of the budget following his relent of the punitive finance bill 2024 rejected by the Kenyan people. The President has since referred the bill back to parliament with a memorandum rejecting all its clauses and followed it up with a statement whose contents mirror the spirit of the bill.

In the statement, the president is proposing that the perceived deficit amounting to 346 billion expected from the rejected bill should be borne equitably by both national and county governments.

The statement further states that the president has referred the Division of Revenue Bill back to parliament for reconsideration and to factor in the perceived deficit. This would be a travesty of justice on county governments whose share of revenue is based on the audited national accounts which are normally three years behind.

How can the President purport to base the failed finance bill on the Division of Revenue Allocations which is calculated on a budget of three years ago. This statement is a clear testimony that counties are targeted by the national executive and we could be staring at what happened to devolution in 1964.

Kenyans paid a heavy price for the current constitution and its institutions MUST be jealously guarded. An attempt to reduce the counties share of the revenue which is already underfunded is a direct attack on the existence and survival on the institution of the county governments. I call upon the 13th parliament to resist any attempt to be used to kill the fabric of Kenya.They have already been forewarned by the actions of the ongoing generation Z demonstrations. ” H.E PROF PETER ANYANG’ NYONG’O, EGH GOVERNOR, KISUMU COUNTY 29TH JUNE, 2024