By Staff Reporter
Kakamega, Murang’a and Kitui counties are the major winners in the national government’s allocation for rehabilitation of village youth polytechnics in the current financial year.
The allocation, which was based on the number of trainees enrolled in each county, will see the three counties receive Sh102.3 million, Sh97.9 million and Sh92.1 respectively.
Kakamega has an enrollment of 6,730 trainees, Murang’a 6,440 and Kitui 6,050.
The counties which received the least allocation are Isiolo (Sh5.3 million) Samburu (Sh10.6 million), Marsabit (Sh10.6 million) and Turkana (Sh12.7 million).
Isiolo has the least number of trainees with 263, Samburu 610, Marsabit 620 and Turkana 754.
In the grant, each trainee is allocated a capitation of Sh15,000, with each county given Sh1.3 million as equalisation share irrespective of the number of trainees.
The allocation was part of the money unlocked when the President Uhuru Kenyatta last month signed the 2020/21 County Revenue Allocation Bill into law.
Among the money is the Sh13.7 billion conditional grant to counties of which Sh2 billion was a conditional grant for enhancing access to quality and relevant vocational skills in village youth polytechnics.
“This additional conditional allocation which is in its fourth year of implementation, and implemented through the State Department of Vocational and Technical Training, is meant to support county governments in equipping Technical and Vocational Centers and capitation of student fees,” the law reads.
The money is expected to boost the infrastructure development in youth polytechnics, most of which lack essential accommodation and learning facilities.
The grant is given to public youth polytechnics that are duly registered, or those that have initiated the registration process with Technical and Vocational Education Training Authority (TVETA), and have functional Boards of Management.
In addition, the youth polytechnic will be required to operate an account in a commercial bank which will exclusively be for the grant, with four signatories of which the County Director of Vocational Education and Training and the Youth Polytechnic Manager will be signatories.
“The conditional grant funds for rehabilitation of Youth Polytechnics must be transferred to a Special Purpose Account operated exclusively for management of the grant immediately, but not later than 15 days after receipt of the funds at the respective County Revenue Fund Account,” the law says.
The grant funds will be required to reflect in the respective county budget estimates for the relevant fiscal year and included in the Division of Revenue Bill and County Allocation of Revenue Bill.
