• Senators whose counties will gain in the proposed method are said to be pushing to have the disputed formula passed as it is.
• At least 25 senators had by last Friday rejected what they termed a ‘divisive’ formula.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
The disputed third basis for sharing revenue among the 47 counties will finally come up for debate in the Senate on Thursday after three failed attempts.
Speaker Kenneth Lusaka was on Tuesday forced to defer the debate to Thursday after a Senate business meeting convened to deliberate on the formula before it is slotted in the Order Paper failed to agree.
Lusaka appointed a small team of the Senate Business Committee to work with the Finance and Budget Committee to seek consensus.
“There was a small committee that was consulting so that we build consensus. We had given them until 2.30pm but it seems they have run late,” Lusaka said.
“So, we are convening on Thursday. It is better we take a little bit of time and agree instead of hurrying and we don’t agree,” he said.
He was responding to Vihiga Senator George Khaniri who had sought to know why the debate on the formula was not slotted space.
“This is what Kenyans are waiting for at the moment. I have looked at the Order Paper and I can’t see it unless there is another supplementary Order Paper coming,” Khaniri said when he stood on a point of order.
This happened as it emerged that the senators were split between two options: Approve the contentious one and defer its implementation by a year or amend it to ensure no or fewer counties lose revenue.
Senators whose counties will gain in the proposed method are said to be pushing to have the disputed formula passed as it is.
Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kangata said the proposed formula already had a cure.
“We shall push the committee’s formula because it has one year postponement,” Kangata told the Star.
Senators John Kinyua (Laikipia) and Samson Cherargei (Nandi), whose counties will gain, reiterated that they stood their ground that the formula should pass unaltered.
“They want us to agree [on another formula] but for us who have been suffering, we cannot agree with that position. We have been patient enough. We are just being discriminated against because we have large populations,” Cherargei said.
The Murang’a senator, however, confirmed that there were two options on the table and expressed optimism that they would build consensus before tomorrow’s debate.
Minority Chief Whip Mutula Kilonzo Jr (Makueni), who has been critical of the proposed formula, said, “We have made progress.”
At least 25 senators had by last Friday rejected what they termed as a divisive formula.
They include 18 senators whose counties would lose up to Sh17 billion, if the formula is adopted, while the others are mainly from Raila’s Nyanza backyard and parts of Rift Valley.
At least 24 out of the 47 delegations (one vote per county) are needed to pass the formula.
Those opposing the proposed method are from the traditionally marginalised and less populous regions of Northeastern, Lower Eastern, Coast and parts of Nyanza and Rift Valley.
The stalemate over the third basis for sharing revenue among the 47 counties has stalled the passage of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, putting the counties on the edge financially.
In the proposal, the parameters of basic shareable revenue and population have been allocated 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, Health (17 per cent) and poverty (14 per cent).
Others are agriculture (10 per cent), access to roads (6 per cent), land mass (8 per cent) and revenue effort (collections) and fiscal prudence one per cent.
Among the biggest losers are Wajir, Mandera and Marsabit counties, whose allocation will be cut by Sh1.9 billion, Sh1.8 billion and Sh1.8 billion respectively if the formula is implemented.
Garissa faces a reduction of Sh1.2 billion, Tana River Sh1.5 billion, Mombasa Sh1.6 billion, Kwale Sh995 million, Narok Sh887 million and Isiolo Sh879 million.
Edited by Henry Makori