KEY POINTS
- Senate committee members haves failed to reach an agreement on the revenue sharing formula
- The committee submitted two contradicting reports to the Senate leadership
- The committee wants president Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and help solve the impasse in the senate
- President Uhuru Kenyatta supports the formula supported by the CRA
The 12-member committee co-chaired by senators Moses Wentangula (Bungoma) and Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) has failed to stick deal on the contentious revenue sharing formula among counties.
The Senate special committee is now focusing on the President to help unlock the stalemate.
Despite the committee saying last week that it has struck a deal, it has now emerged that the team failed to agree on the best formula to share the revenue among the 47 devolved units.
The disagreement now dims the hopes of unlocking the stalemate that has been the subject of the House for the last two months.
The Senate has failed in nine sitting to approve the revenue sharing formula.
The reports were handed over to Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio (West Pokot) and Minority Leader James Orengo (Siaya).
“We did not agree. That is the truth. That is why we presented the two reports to the House leadership and asked it to engage the President to help us,” a senator who sat in the negotiation committee told the Star in confidence.
The move to indulge the head of state comes barely a week after he backed the formula fronted by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA).
“This is not Uhuru’s money. This formula was crafted by the Commission on Revenue Allocation and went to the Senate, indicating that the revenue should be shared justifiably such that everyone gets their fair share,” he said.
Our sources have established that one of the reports produced by the 12-member committee resembles the highly disputed House Finance and Budget committee report.
The report advocates for the one-man-one-vote-one-shilling formula that will see highly populous counties gaining in revenue while those with less population losing.
While the other reports support the formula proposed by Meru Senator Mithika Linturi, where Sh270 billion of the 316,5 billion will be shared equally while the remaining Sh46.5 billion will be shared with regards to landmass, population, and health.
“We recommended that either of the formulas take effect after two years. The reason behind this is that we hope that by then, the National Treasury shall have increased allocation to counties,” the source said.
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Last week on Wednesday, Wetangula led-committee at a press conference announced a breakthrough after a week of negotiations. But the team declined to disclose the final formula citing, the confidentiality of the document.
“We will not and we are not allowed by the Standing Orders of the House to divulge the contents of the report until it is presented to the Speaker and finds its way to the House,” Wetang’ula said.
But just after the announced the breakthrough, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei dismissed the claim.
Taking to tweeter Cherargei wrote: “No smoke. Not yet. Aluta continua.”
“The report will soon be made public. We are looking forward to ensuring that every county is catered for,” the Nandi senator said on Sunday.
Related: Senate Run To Raila For Help In the Revenue Sharing Stalemate
