Deputy President William Ruto has declared support for amendments by Senators Johnson Sakaja of Nairobi and Mithika Linturi of Meru to end the counties’ sharing revenue proposal that hit a snag on Tuesday for the seventh time.
The DP said on Friday that only a united and patriotic senate will break the stalemate. “The emerging consensus on the revenue formula by Sakaja and Linturi is a good path towards a win-win outcome where populous counties receive reasonable increase while the others make major savings from otherwise huge loses is a big stride in pursuit of a win-win outcome,” Ruto said via Twitter post.
A section of senators led by Kipchumba Murkomen of Elgeyo Marakwet had declared support for a blend of Sakaja and Linturi proposals as the only solution to the revenue sharing formula impasse.
Sakaja’s proposals are currently at the floor of the house. Linturi’s amendments will still retain most of parameters in the Sakaja’s formula. They will only seek to to reduce base from the proposed Sh316 billion to the new base which is between Sh250 billion and Sh270 billion.
But any amount above the agreed base will be subjected to the Sakaja proposal.
Hon. Murkomen claimed that there has been hidden moves in the Senate concerning the basis for allocating among counties.
Sakaja is in dire need of numbers to have his proposal sail through the floor of the senate because providing solution to this stalemate will help him redeem his tainted image. The Nairobi Senator was charged for flouting covid-19 rules two weeks ago and was released after depositing a Sh15,000 fine.
The BBI handlers whom Sakaja has been over the time are backing Irungu’s proposal that has been rejected because it is viewed as a proposal that will hugely benefit Mt. Kenya, sections of Rift Valley and Nyanza but will see upto 19 counties lose in terms of revenue allocation.
Both Murkomen and Lituri are politicians allied to the DP William Ruto.
