• Meeting to solve the stalemate hit a snag after members failed to reach a consensus, signalling trouble for counties.
• County bosses will be compelled to minimalise the little resources that they will be allocated until the impasse is resolved.
Image: RITA DAMARY
A section of Senators wants the National Assembly to stop pegging the standoff for allocation of monies to counties on corruption and 'wastage'.
Speaking in Kuresoi North on Saturday during a fundraiser of more than 25 churches in Mungetho village, Senator Kithure Kindiki, said that the Senate was not ready to buy that narrative.
The Tharaka Nithi Senator said that the National Assembly should stop bringing up the issue of corruption as the vice is there even at the National Government level.
"It is true there's corruption in the counties. But let them not forget that corruption is also at the National level. All we are asking them is to release the funds and we will deal with corruption," he said.
His Nakuru counterpart Senator Susan Kihika said the move to starve the counties off revenue will starve the counties hence reduce the service delivery to the citizens.
You will not talk of corruption and reducing the allocation to counties while increasing the same at the National level. That is so ironical because corruption is entrenched even in the National Government.Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika
She added that the move will weaken and finally kill devolution by and hence unacceptable.
"By doing this, you are not punishing the Governors and Senators but the citizens. It is not acceptable. Let the Treasury release the money and then we can talk on the corruption issues," Kihika said.
The National Assembly and MPs have not been able to unlock the stalemate surrounding the County Revenue Bill which seeks to determine the allocation of monies devolved units will get in the 2019/2020 financial year.
Last week, the meeting to solve the stalemate hit a snag after members failed to reach a consensus, signalling trouble for counties.
The meeting failed to settle on the Sh21 billion shortfall that the Senate was requesting from the Treasury, with the National Assembly adamant to give in to the counties’ demands.
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale who is a member of the committee said the resolution that now portends that counties will be starved of cash did not come as a surprise insisting that they are the ones mandated to handle budget affairs in the country.
The committee co-chaired by Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah and Mandera Senator Mohamed Mohamud has been meeting for close to 10 days to unlock the allocation of funds dispute after the Senate demanded to be given Sh335 billion but the National Assembly stuck to Sh314 billion.
Consequently, Senators will have to wait for another six months before another Division of Revenue Bill is published to kickstart the process all over again.
With counties now being put in a precarious situation, county bosses will be compelled to minimalise the little resources that they will be allocated until the impasse is resolved.