Consensus reached as senators to support Linturi revenue deal
Anthony Mwangi and Wangari Njuguna
Senators are said to be nearing consensus in dispute over revenue sharing to counties that could see Kenyans lead to senators striking a deal to support the amendment moved by Meru Senator Mithika Linturi.
Senators who spoke to People Daily said the committee of 12 members picked to find a solution to the matter will meet this afternoon to iron out remaining issues before settling on a position.
Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala said he expects the committee to come up with a solution after the government side agreed to cede some ground.
“The Majority Leader is going to table some amendments which will further improve Linturi’s amendment which seeks to push for a win-win situation,” said Malala.
He said that the senators have agreed to support a formula which will see counties that will win do so with a small margin and those losing have their allocations reduce by an equally small figures.
“I am optimistic that we are going to find a solution this time round. Members are committed to settle the matter,” said Malala.
Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni pointed fingers at Majority Whip and murang’a senator Irungu Kanga’ta, blaming him for the stalemate.
“Kang’ata, and I think the President should be made aware, has been the biggest impediment in our efforts to pass the formula.
In the first formula suggested by the CRA, Murang’a was losing county but Kang’ata insisted that he won’t support it as long as he is the whip,” said the senator.
“He conspired with Senator Charles Kibiru who chaired the Finance committee to put Muranga on the side of winners and has maintained that he won’t accept any formula that will change the status quo.”
Omogeni said senators were in favour of the Linturi amendments because the margins of both the losing and gaining counties were “small and reasonable.”
Linturi’s amendment which has already been approved proposes a reduction to the baseline (equal share) from Sh316.5 billion as proposed by his Nairobi counterpart Johnson Sakaja to Sh270 billion.
Linturi suggests other parameters of sharing revenue should apply to the difference of Sh46.5 billion.
In the Linturi proposal, 19 counties will lose Sh1.8 billion down from Sh17 billion contained in the disputed formula by the House Finance committee.
