Border Counties seek to get a share of the billions of shillings of equalization funds

Border Counties are seeking to get a share of the billions of shillings of equalization funds as they lobby the Senate to increase the latitude of the fund to include the frontier counties that face unique cross-border challenges.

Busia Governor Paul Otuoma called for the border counties to be allowed to impose fees on transit trailers and trucks passing through border points in the devolved units since the equitable share of revenue and own source revenue is not enough for frontier counties which have to deal with additional roles.

Speaking while hosting Senate leadership at his office, Otuoma argued that Busia County – lying on the Kenya-Uganda border – often bears the burden of providing essential services like healthcare to Ugandans who cross into the county through the border which is not taken care of in the allocations.

“Frontier counties are facing unique challenges because of free movement of people which continues to put a lot of strain on infrastructure and health facilities in the devolved units, Busia County faces distinct economic and cross-border challenges as a result of sharing borders with Uganda,” said Otuoma.

He said that the Equalisation fund only caters for marginalised counties and other areas in the country but has never factored border counties calling for the Senate to look at them in a different manner because they have more needs than other counties.

 The governor said that apart from the equalisation fund, if Busia County is allowed to impose entry fees on transit vehicles passing through its two border points of Malaba and Busia borders it allow the county enhance its own source revenue making his administration meet its financial obligations.

Otuoma said that despite numerous  long-distance trucks and trailers passing through the county daily, the county government has nothing to show for having two major one stop border points, providing transit routes for East African trade for cargo destined for Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan.

“As a border county with Uganda, Busia is a crucial gateway for all exports and imports passing through the Malaba and Busia borders, if you plan for a certain population you will find that it has moved up by 30 percent because of the free movement of people from Uganda,” said Otuoma.

The Governor raised concerns how the two border points handle at least 70 percent of cargo cleared from Mombasa port yet the Coastal county rakes in billions from the same saying his administration is currently collecting slightly more than Sh530 million in own source revenue, inclusive of hospital fees.

Otuoma pointed out that the amount could significantly increase if they were to be allowed to levy a fee on the trailers passing through the county bearing in mind that the county is currently facing several challenges in infrastructure development which includes roads and hospitals as well as in service delivery due to the limited budget

The Busia County government was forced to suspend imposition of Cess fees on long-distance trucks and trailers after a backlash from the transporters who accused the devolved unit of failing to have proper consultation.

The truckers argued the move will increase the cost of doing business leading to a loss to Tanzania on transit business through the Central Corridor.

Under the plan, the county government sought to levy all road motorised transport with Sh1,000 charged on foreign trailers per entry into the county and Sh400 per truck per entry for Kenyan trucks. This was in addition to a Sh500 parking fee for trucks and trailers.

The 1,700-kilometre-long Northern corridor runs between Mombasa, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with Kenya’s biggest market being Uganda which accounts for up to 83 percent of transit volumes through the port of Mombasa.

The fees on transit vehicles passing through the county was contained in the Busia County Government Finance Act, 2023 with the Act requiring all transit trucks and trailers entering Busia County to pay entry fees but the county government was prevailed upon and eventually dropped the proposed charges.

“Our intention is to make Busia a logistic hub with built trailer parks, roads, bypasses, ring roads to grow the area because our County is the biggest corridor for East African trade,” said Otuoma.