Wycliffe Nyamasege
For a record eighth time now the Senate has adjourned after failing to resolve county revenue sharing standoff.
Speaker Keneth Lusaka adjourned the debate to Thursday when the House is expected to continue with the discussion and vote on changes made to the main motion.
Ealier, Senators voted 25-20 to adopt Meru Senator Mithika Linturi’s amendment to the revenue sharing formula in a heated session.
Linturi’s amendment was opposed by Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata and like-minded senators.
Linturi had moved an amendment to a proposal by his Nairobi counterpart Johnson Sakaja in a bid to “protect” interests of losing counties.
Linturi proposed a reduction to the baseline (equal share) from Ksh316.5 billion as proposed by Sakaja to Ksh270 billion.
The senator suggested that other parameters of sharing revenue should apply to the difference of Ksh46.5 billion.
Sakaja had proposed an amendment to the Finance Committee’s formula seeking to use allocation to each county in the last financial year as a baseline for present and future share of the county share, and any increased resources be subject to a new formula.
In the Linturi proposal, 19 counties will lose Ksh1.8 billion down from Ksh17 billion contained in the disputed formula proposed by the House Finance committee.
Linturi received overwhelming support from like-minded senators under the ‘Kenya Moja‘ axis comprising among others Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo Marakwet), Mutula Kilonzo (Makueni) and Ledama ole Kina (Narok).
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