• The proposed formula, if adopted, will determine how the 47 countries share the national cake for the next five years.
• In the proposal, the parameters of basic shareable revenue and population have been allocated 20 and 18 per cent, respectively.
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President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mt Kenya backyard counties are finding themselves isolated as the debate on the new formula proposed for the allocation of revenue to devolved units continues to rage.
Most counties, save for a few from the Rift Valley, have opposed the ‘divisive’ proposed formula but Central Kenya leaders including senators and governors have backed the proposal.
The proposed formula, if adopted, will determine how the 47 countries share the national cake for the next five years.
In the proposal, the parameters of basic shareable revenue and population have been allocated 20 and 18 per cent, respectively.
Health has 17 per cent, poverty (14), agriculture (10), access to roads (6), land mass (8) and revenue effort (collections) and fiscal prudence one per cent.
However, it has elicited sharp divisions among senators with those from lower Eastern, Northeastern and Coast rejecting it. Some 18 countries stand to lose up to Sh17 billion if the method is adopted.
Central Kenya senators said their areas have been disadvantaged since the inception of devolution in 2013 because of the skewed formula.
“There were irregularities in the data that were done in 2009. Currently, we have new data. So, once you put the new data into the new parameter, counties like Mandera are losing big time because there was use of wrong data,” Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru said.
Kibiru, who was recently installed as the chairman of the Finance and Budget committee that proposed the formula, maintained that the method was fair and would ensure equity for the counties that have been ‘punished’ since 2013.
During the adjournment debate on the floor, most senators from the area remained quiet but maintained outside the House that one man, one shilling principle must apply.
Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura said it was impossible for a county like Kiambu, with more than one million people, to continue to get the same amount as some counties in Northern Kenya yet its population is very huge.
“Money should not be allocated to a landmass. Money should be allocated to people,” Mwaura said.
According to the proposed formula, Kiambu would get Sh986 million more from the previous year’s allocation. Kirinyaga gets Sh779 million more, Laikipia gets Sh538 million, Nyandarua Sh401 million, Embu Sh392 million, Nyeri Sh277 million and Murang'a Sh92 million.
Kiambu Governor James Nyoro backed the proposal, saying it should be adopted to enhance services.
He argued that the current formula is discriminatory, stating that per capita allocation in some counties is as high as Sh24,000 yet in Kiambu it is a paltry Sh3,800.
“Kenyans have been good at sharing the cake but some regions have not been good at baking it,” he argued.
He said population should be given emphasis as a large part of the budget goes towards operation and maintenance, including salaries.
“It’s not a question of whether Kiambu gains or loses. I think it’s a question of us developing the formula as issues evolve. It’s a complicated formula, but it is enhancing service delivery,” he stated.
Council of Governors chairperson Wycliffe Oparanya and a host of legislators from marginalised, arid and semi-arid areas have strongly opposed the proposed formula, saying it would hurt some counties.
At least 21 senators drawn from the arid and semi-arid counties have opposed the formula, saying it will disenfranchise and further marginalise their areas.
Some 10 county chiefs from the areas have also petitioned the national government to shelve for one year the implementation of a new revenue sharing formula.
Nominated Senator Abshiro Halake said the cost of providing services should also be looked at and not just the head count.
“The Sh24,000 Governor Nyoro is talking about is not money in our pockets. It goes to put up hospitals and other facilities that counties like Kiambu already have,” she stated.
Halake further said the proposed formula does not take into account economic disparities among counties.
“We (counties) are not all at the same level. There are certain counties whose only source of resource is the revenue shared in this formula. Nairobi has opportunity to collect billions of shillings outside of the revenue allocated,” she explained.
Edited by Henry Makori