Finance committee tells Kebs to devolve functions for credible data sharing 

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget met with the Director General for the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Dr Macdonald Obudho to deliberate on the data required in developing the Fourth Basis for Revenue Sharing among counties.

The meeting comes as part of the Committee’s efforts to consider the views of different stakeholders on the revenue-sharing formula as proposed by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA).

While meeting with the Members of the Senator Ali Roba-led Committee at Parliament Buildings earlier today, Dr Obudho gave the team a blow-by-blow account of how his agency measures the poverty index in Kenya, one of the parameters that has been included in the formula.

He stated that the bureau uses internationally recognized standards of measuring poverty by considering three measures based on the premise that poverty measurement involves comparing a welfare indicator—consumption per adult equivalent—against a pre-determined threshold, known as the poverty line.

“While determining the annual poverty estimates in the country, the bureau considers the poverty headcount rate, depth of poverty, and severity of poverty. We then choose the welfare measure of individuals and collect data on the household’s living standards.”

“After that, we construct the welfare measure, define the poverty line threshold, and then determine the poverty measures of different counties,” Dr Obudho said.

He informed the Senators that the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics had already initiated a series of Household Budget Surveys to collect welfare information meant to facilitate accurate computation of poverty and inequality indicators in the country.

Senators were, however, appalled to learn that the bureau relies on the 2022 household budget survey data while coming up with the poverty line index in counties and urged the bureau to devolve its functions to ensure the data the country relies on when coming up with the revenue sharing formula is credible.

“When it comes to the poverty line index you have given data from 2015 up to 2022. We are in 2025. After how long are you supposed to conduct these surveys?” Senator Tabitha Mutinda, the Vice Chairperson of the Committee posed.

“Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is the custodian of national data. Considering that the country relies on your data, you should consider devolving your functions so that you can collect credible, reliable, and dependable data at the county level,” Roba emphasized.

Dr Obudho agreed with the Committee’s suggestions but decried low budgetary allocation.

The KNBS chief urged the Senate to ensure the bureau is adequately funded to effectively discharge its mandate.

The Commission on Revenue Allocation uses the poverty and inequality estimates to prepare recommendations for the division of revenue and formulate medium-term plans as well as County Integrated Development Plans.