[Mose Sammy, Standard]All 47 county governments are among the biggest beneficiaries in this year’s budget after getting an extra Sh53.5 billion in equitable share to accelerate service delivery in the devolved units. The increase in equitable share from Sh316.1 billion in the current financial year will see counties receive the extra billions which governors are expected to utilise to spur post-Covid-19 economic recovery at the counties as well as ensure sustained service delivery. To plug the deficit of Sh17.4 billion, Treasury will convert some of the ongoing additional conditional allocations to county governments without any ongoing contractual obligations in the coming financial year. The four conditional allocations are the Road Maintenance Levy Fund, grant to level 5 hospitals, compensation for user fees foregone and rehabilitation of village polytechnics grants. Yatani said conversion of the ongoing additional conditional allocations to county governments would afford the counties more autonomy.

Source: Standard Digital June 11, 2021 20:35 UTC