Mudavadi, Kinyanjui urge for sobriety in revenue formula tiff
People Daily Team @PeopleDailyKe
Across section of political leaders have asked senators to put aside their differences and pass the controversial revenue sharing formula to unlock release of cash to counties and prevent a constitutional crisis.
Led by Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi, the leaders yesterday urged the Senate to move with speed and resolve the impasse on the new revenue allocation formula.
Mudavadi said the back-and-forth on allocation formula might be detrimental to the country and warned that delay in disbursing funds to counties will lag behind in delivering services to the people.
“Emotions in a matter like this one will not be very helpful. Leaders should focus on finding a formula because this is not the time for a grand standing.
They should not look for arrangements not recognised in law,” said Mudavadi yesterday.
The Senate is tomorrow evening expected to vote on the formula, which has divided senators despite intervention by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui also weighed in on the debate and asked senator to separate the formula from other issues such as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and the 2022 succession race.
Lee said it was unfair that counties, which contribute greatly to economic growth, were the lowest recipients of the revenue share.
“This would lead to marginalisation of the majority. While Nakuru receives 5,188 per capital, our counterparts in Lamu receive 19,551.
This is more than three times higher, yet the residents have equal expectation on service delivery in both counties.
Devolved sectors such as agriculture continue to suffer due to underfunding, leading to food insecurity,” he said in a statement.
MPs from Kiambu County also backed the push for ‘one-man- one-vote-one-shilling’ formula for sharing revenue among the 47 counties.
The MPs, led by Gatundu South’s Moses Kuria insist that the national cake should be divided according to the number of people living in respective regions and not the land mass.
