Senators threaten to shoot down cash sharing formula
A section of Senators have vowed to shoot down the proposed third generation formula for revenue sharing when it comes up for debate in the Senate even as it emerged that the Coast region alone will lose over Sh5 billion.
Addressing a news conference yesterday, the senators termed the new plan as retrogressive; exposed to political manipulation and a gateway to marginalisation if adopted.
They proposed that the current formula be retained until a solution to the impasse is found.
The senators who spoke at Parliament buildings yesterday including; Stewart Madzayo (Kilifi), Ledama Ole Kina (Narok), Muhamud Mohamed (Mandera), Abdullahi Ibrahim (Wajir) and Mohammed Faki (Mombasa) questioned the criteria of taking away about Sh1 billion and giving it to Kiambu.
“It is the single most threat to devolution. The indices adopted in the third-generation formula will greatly impact negatively on service delivery on service delivery to the marginalized areas of the country, as most of them are unfavourable to the regional socio-economic recovery,” the senators said.
“The money being shared in 2020/21 financial year is the same as what was shared in the last financial year. There is no justification for some counties to gain at the expense of others,” Mohamed said during the press conference in parliament.
His Garissa counterpart, Yusuf Hajji cautioned that if the proposed formula is not reversed the senators opposed will fight to the last person, and if it means with their sweat and blood to have it shelved.
“In the spirit of ensuring there is equity in revenue allocation, it is imperative that the views of leaders from the marginalised areas are taken into consideration to ensure that other areas are not disadvantaged. Otherwise this will be an avenue of disillusionment. We are ready to fight this retrogressive move,” he added.
On Monday, Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka cancelled a meeting of all senators, which the People Daily has learnt was meant to discuss the impasse over the formula. Interestingly, this formula is widely being supported by most of the counties in the Mt. Kenya region.
The senate had scheduled debate on the formula on Tuesday last week but it was suspended to pave way for consultation among the conflicting parties, which again faced the same fate on Monday due to what was termed as “unavoidable circumstances.”
“The counties that are losing are the ones that are marginalised, while those are being given large sums of money, are economically more than stable,” Madzayo said.
Ibrahim accused the senators recently elected to the Committees of manipulating revenue allocation and threatened to start collecting signatures to kick them out.
“The poroposed formula is retrogressive. It asserts a dangerous political rationalisation of “one man, one shilling”.
This violates the very basic principle of equity, shared prosperity and an inclusive Kenya which we seek through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI),” he added.
Ole Kina said the formula divides the country into two when important events such as an imminent referendum which calls for one voice from all Kenyans.
“We need to go back to the Commission for Revenue Allocation formula that apportioned 15 percent to the counties,” he added.
The senators had suspended debate on the County Allocation of Revenue Bill 2020 until the impasse is resolved. The Bill is one that shares out the money to 47 counties.
