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Costing of Government Functions - 2015 Report

The Government’s central priority, at the national and county levels, is to provide basic services to all within the constraint of available resources. This is the objective set out in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 under the Bill of Rights and is a fundamental responsibility of the government. The functions of national and county governments are outlined in Articles 186 and 187 and detailed in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. These were unbundled by the Transition Authority.

Article 187 (2) also provides that if a function or power is transferred from a government at one level to a government at the other level then arrangements shall be put in place to ensure that the resources necessary for the performance of the function or exercise of the power are transferred in line with the ‘finance follows functions’ principle. In response to this, this study on the cost of government functions was commissioned.

The scope of study, in terms of the broad functions, constituted foreign affairs, foreign policy and international trade; transport and infrastructure; agriculture, livestock, and fisheries; health; and water, environment and natural resources.

The main purpose of the study was to estimate the costs of resources necessary the performance of the functions assigned to the National and County Governments. The specific objectives included review of relevant documents, review of norms and standards in service delivery, identify services provided by both levels of government, cost the services, and provide trends in past expenditure on the functions.