Headache For Senators On The Revenue Sharing Formula.

• The national government budget is at Sh3 trillion, but ironically the counties have an allocation of Sh316.5 billion, representing 10.6% of the budget. The chairperson of the CRA Jane Kiringia claims that the mismatch between the two governments causes the stalemate.

The stalemate seen at the senate over the revenue sharing formula has brought a lot of headaches with the national government fighting against the losing counties. The fight between the two governments took a different turn barely a week, with some three senators being arrested.
The sharing of the 316.5 billion has brought a lot of misunderstanding on the proposed formula, making the losing counties view the gaining counties as self-centered in their decisions.
The proposal made by Petronilla Were on the use of the second generation sharing formula of Sh. 316 billion among the 47 counties until the national government is in a position to allocate more funds to be shared. Recently the president and the former prime minister have been supporting Weres’ formula.

The other proposal came from Mithika Linturi with a plan that allows all counties to share the Sh. 270 billion equally while the remaining Sh. 46.5 billion to be distributed using the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) formula. Deputy President William Ruto backed up Linturi’s proposal.

Dramatic Arrest

However, in a statement, the senators claim that the resources to be shared with the counties are limited, making the three senators’ dramatic arrest and taken to their home counties, preventing them from making their democratic decision on the revenue sharing formula.
Although the arrest was a sure recipe of conflict among the senators the arrest behind Steve Lelegwe(Samburu), Cleophas Malala (Kakamega) and Christopher Lang’ at (Bomet), this did not stop the senate, from the meeting.  With continued drama, the senators were released unconditionally after failing to discuss the formula within the assembly.
The national government budget is at Sh3 trillion, but ironically the counties have an allocation of Sh316.5 billion, representing 10.6% of the budget. The chairperson of the CRA Jane Kiringia claims that the mismatch between the two governments causes the stalemate.
The CRA formula is being rejected with some counties as they are bound to lose more money from there counties while other counties are bound to gain from the same formula.
“The national government is keeping too much. When we started, counties were getting 20%, and now it has declined to 18%, so you can see a consistent weakening of the devolution when so much is left at the center,” said Kiringai.
Also Read:Leaders Against The Arrest Of The Three Senators