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Court directs Parliament, Treasury to amend Division of Revenue Act 2016

 

The High Court has said the Division of Revenue Act 2016, is inconsistent with the constitution.

Justice James Makau has ruled that the Act contravened the constitution by defining that the conditional allocations to counties shall be from the revenue raised nationally rather than the national government's equitable share.

As a result, the judge has directed Parliament, Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, Commission on Revenue Authority and Controller of Budget to take necessary steps to amend the 2016 Act so that it conforms with the constitution.

"I find that conditional grants to counties should come from the national government's share whereas funds for devolved functions should be allocated directly from the nationally raised revenue and not through the national government's share," he said.

The Council of Governors filed the petition in court after Parliament went ahead and enacted the Division of Revenue Allocation act in 2016 to sharing and devolution of power.

The Act was assented to by the President on May 23, 2016, and provides for divisions of revenue modality between the National and County governments.

They claimed in the 2016/17 financial year, Parliament allocated funds to the national government to devolved functions such as the Sh41 billion Free Maternity Health Care, Sh4.5 billion for leasing medical equipment and Sh4.5 billion for Level 5 hospitals.

And in an attempt to camouflage the anomaly, the Act made the allocations as a conditional grant.

The county governments aggrieved in the manner in which the national government was silently taking over devolved functions through the allocation of funds to itself filed the case in court.

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