Mt Kenya leaders close ranks in tussle over devolved funds
From left: Laikipia Senator John Kinyua, then-Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kanga’ta (now Murang’a governor), and Nandi Senator Samson Cherarkey celebrate outside Parliament Building in Nairobi in September 2020 after MPs passed the county revenue allocation formula.
It’s a political hot-potato; a hot-button issue that refuses to go away every electoral cycle, galvanising Mt Kenya politicians around a subject that is at the heart of the masses — resource allocation.
The one-man-one-shilling debate has now taken an interesting twist, with politicians from the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) closing rank with their Opposition counterparts in the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party.
Under the current revenue sharing formula, population is accorded 45 per cent, basic equal share (25 per cent), poverty index (20 per cent), land mass (eight per cent) and fiscal responsibility (two per cent), which, Mt Kenya politicians insist, leaves the heavily-populated counties with little cash for development.
It is Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi who, in 2016, filed a petition in court before Justice Joseph Ongutu seeking to compel the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) to adopt the one-man-one-shilling formula in disbursements to counties.
Through lawyer Kibe Mungai, Mr Wamatangi had argued that areas that were geographically larger yet sparsely populated received more money than densely populated but smaller areas.
He cited Nairobi, Kiambu, Muran’ga, Nakuru, Bungoma, Meru, Homa-Bay, Machakos, Kakamega, Kisii, Siaya, Kisumu, Uasin Gishu, Migori, Kilifi, Bomet, Nyandarua, Kirinyaga and Kajiado as counties where the allocation per person was Sh4,000 compared to sparsely populated refgions like Lamu, Tana River, Isiolo, Samburu, Marsabit, Taita Taveta, Turkana, Mandera and Wajir, which were getting between Sh10,000 and Sh21,000 per person.
“[Murang’a Governor] Irungu Kang’ata, [when he was the] Senate Majority Whip, had in 2020 pushed for the formula but political deceit and betrayal carried the day. The environment has changed since our numbers in the government side gives us an edge to have our way,”Mr Wamatangi told Nation recently.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri said the drive must be pushed with goodwill and in unity “as opposed to the emerging trend where some of our leaders want to muzzle the debate for fear of [upsetting party bigwigs]”.
Githunguri MP Gathoni wa Muchomnba said in a recent interview on Gikuyu language broadcaster Inooro TV that “this one-man-one-shilling-one-vote ideology must come to fruition. We have no choice but have it in place by the next election”.
Former Murang’a governor Mwangi wa Iria, however, accused UDA politicians in the region of being insincere.
“We had the chance of bargaining for the formula to apply before we went for the 2022 elections but we sabotaged it,” he said. Jubilee Party Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni said: “Before we start taking of tea, coffee and milk industries, let us first have a Mt Kenya regional conference to declare that we are not approaching 2027 elections without the formula entrenched in law”.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the presumed Mt Kenya kingpin said on Inooro TV three weeks ago:“It is a debate we are taking seriously just like the way we will be holding a three day conference in Meru County to debate our coffee, tea and dairy sectors.”
Opposition chief Raila Odinga, in his April 20 visit to Murang’a County, chided Mt Kenya leaders for complaining about an issue they had rejected during the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) clamour for constitutional reforms.
“Mt Kenya would have received Sh54 billion more in counties while the National Government Constituency Development Fund would have increased by between Sh100 million and Sh300 million per constituency,” he said.
The Mt Kenya push is bound to collide with the interests of residents of President William Ruto’s Rift Valley backyard, where local leaders are preaching the one shilling, one kilometre gospel.
“Allocation of resources should be based on geographical parameters, status of development and historical marginalisation,” Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku had said during a BBI rally in Narok in February 2021.
Political analyst Prof Ngugi Njoroge said President Ruto faces a herculean task of shedding off perceptions that he has not been keen on addressing the issue.
