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Why border counties want equalisation fund billions
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi (left) and Busia Governor Paul Otuoma at a press conference in Busia County on October 6, 2025, during the second day of the Senate Mashinani initiative.
Border counties want a share of the equalisation fund billions as they push the Senate to expand the scope of the fund to include the frontier counties that face unique cross-border challenges.
The development comes at a time when the border counties have renewed the push to be allowed to impose fees on transit trailers and trucks passing through border points in the devolved units.
Busia Governor Paul Otuoma said that the equitable share of revenue and own source revenue is insufficient for frontier counties, which face additional pressures not addressed in the allocations.
Speaking on Wednesday morning while hosting the Senate leadership at his office, Dr Otuoma argued that Busia County, which lies on the Kenya-Uganda border, often bears the burden of providing essential services such as healthcare to Ugandans who cross into the county via the border.
He said Busia County faces distinct economic and cross-border challenges as a result of sharing borders with Uganda.
Equalisation fund only caters for marginalised counties and areas in the country but has never factored border counties.
“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,” said Governor Otuoma.
“We urge the Senate to also look at us in a different manner because we shoulder more than other counties. For instance, you plan for a certain population but that jumps by 30 percent because of the free movement of people from Uganda.”
Busia Governor Paul Otuoma and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi in Busia County on October 6, 2025, during the second day of the Senate Mashinani initiative.
The first-term governor said that apart from a pie of the equalisation fund, he observed that being allowed to impose entry fee on transit vehicles passing through its two border points of Malaba and Busia borders to allow the county enhance its own source revenue.
As a border county with Uganda, Busia is a crucial gateway for all exports and imports passing through the Malaba and Busia borders.
Governor Paul Otuoma said that despite at least 1,800 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.
The county boss said the two border points handle at least 70 percent of cargo cleared from the Mombasa port yet the coastal county rakes in billions from the same.
Dr Otuoma said his administration is currently collecting slightly more than Sh530 million in own source revenue, inclusive of hospital fees.
However, he pointed out that the amount could significantly increase if the county was allowed to levy a fee on the trailers passing through it.
“We are currently facing several challenges in infrastructure, including in roads and hospitals, as well as in service delivery because of a limited budget,” he said.
Last year, the county government was forced to suspend levies on long-distance trucks and trailers after a backlash from the transporters who accused the devolved unit of failing to consult them.
The transporters argued that the levies would increase the cost of doing business and Kenya would lose the transit business to Tanzania 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.
Kenya’s biggest market is 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. The Act required all transit trucks and trailers entering Busia County to pay entry fees, which was suspended following the complaints.
“We want to make Busia a logistic hub with built trailer parks, roads, bypasses, ring roads to grow the area because Busia County is the biggest corridor for East African trade,” said Governor Otuoma.
