Have Kenya’s counties received Ksh1.5 trillion in Equitable Share since 2013?

How much money has been allocated as Equitable Share from the national government to the 47 counties of Kenya?

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PesaCheck

5 min readNov 29, 2018

In an article published on The Star on October 25, Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) chairperson Dr Jane Karingai claimed that Ksh1.5 trillion in total had been allocated to Kenya’s 47 counties as Equitable Share from the 2013/2014 to 2018/2019 financial years.

Addressing members of the public, social movements and representatives of civil society during the 2018 Equity Week celebrations held in Nairobi, Dr Karingai added that the equitable share allocation is based on population, a basic equal share, poverty, land area and development index.

Since the onset of devolution, Dr Karingai explains, counties have received Ksh302 billion out of Ksh1.5 trillion based on their level of poverty, Ksh126 billion based on their land area, and Ksh6 billion based on the development index.

Since the onset of devolution, KSh 1.5 trillion has been allocated to county governments from 2013/14 to 2018/19 as equitable share. Of this, Ksh302 billion has been shared on account of poverty. Land area has been used to share Ksh126 billion, while the development index has been used to share Ksh6 billion. Putting all these together, it means that Ksh434 billion has been allocated to tackle poverty and close development gaps among counties — Dr Jane Karingai

So the question is, have counties been allocated Ksh1.5 trillion as equitable share since the onset of devolution in 2013?

PesaCheck has investigated the claim made by the Chairperson of the CRA, Dr Karingai, that counties have been allocated Ksh1.5 trillion since 2013/2014 and finds that it is TRUE based on the following facts:

Article 203 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides the criteria for equitable share, considering factors such as national interest, fiscal capacity of county governments, and economic disparities between the counties.

Poorer counties therefore get a larger share of the allocation, with the ultimate goal of the allocation being to give previously marginalized counties a way to ‘catch up’ with the rest of the country.

In Financial Year 2013/2014, the first year under devolution, the 47 counties of Kenya received a total of Ksh190 billion from equitable share. A total of Ksh20 billion was received by counties as conditional grants from national government and Ksh54.2 billion was collected as own revenues.

During the second year under devolution — FY 2014/2015 — the 47 counties received Ksh226.66 billion equitable share from the national government . The counties received an additional Ksh2.6 billion in conditional grants and collected Ksh50.38 billion from own or local sources of revenue. A total of Ksh36.07 billion had been brought forward from the previous financial year 2014/2015, indicating a low absorption rate by the counties.

In Financial Year 2015/2016, the third year under devolution, the 47 counties received Ksh259.77 billion as equitable share of revenues collected by the national government. In addition to that, the counties received Ksh21.91 billion as conditional grants from both donors and the national government. Finally, the counties collected Ksh35.02 billion from own sources of revenue during the year.

In Fiscal Year 2016/2017, the 47 counties received Ksh280.30 billion as equitable share. This helped in financing the aggregate budget of Ksh399.24 billion for all the 47 counties. In addition to that, Ksh21.9 billion was from conditional grants from both the national government and other development partners. A total of Ksh32.52 billion was collected from own sources at the counties.

In Financial Year 2017/2018, the 47 counties were allocated Ksh302 billion which went a long way into financing the aggregate county budget of Ksh410.1 billion. The balance was financed by conditional grants from development partners and national government (Ksh27.27 billion); own sources (Ksh49.22 billion) and balance brought forward from FY 2016/2017 at Ksh25.75 billion.

According to the Division of Revenue Act 2018, the 47 counties of Kenya are expected to receive Ksh314 billion in equitable share and Ksh33.24 billion in conditional grants from the national government and donors in 2018/19.

Adding the figures in the table above for each financial year, you will find that the 47 counties received an aggregate of Ksh1.572 trillion. If we round off that figure, it will be safe to say counties received Ksh1.6 trillion during the period under review.

Based on the above figures and calculations, we therefore conclude that the claim made by the chairperson for Commission on Revenue Allocation Dr Jane Kiringai is TRUE.

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This report was written by PesaCheck Fellow Geoffrey Kerosi, a Kenyan economist and public policy analyst, edited by PesaCheck managing editor Eric Mugendi and copyedited by PesaCheck Project Manager (Editorial and Verification) Stellar Murumba. The infographics are by Eunice Magwambo, a graphic designer, visual artist and digital content producer.

PesaCheck, co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances and how governments are delivering on public services related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as healthcare, rural development and access to water and sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage.

To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.