CRA offers middle ground in dispute on county cash

The stalemate over county revenue formula persisted into the night on Monday as the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) emerged to give the way forward ahead of the Senate’s record eighth sitting on the matter today.

The enactment of the third generation formula is critical as it will unlock the disbursement of Sh316.5 billion to the 47 counties. If enacted, the formula shall apply for the next five financial years, according to Article 217 (1) of the constitution.

The absence of the formula means that the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA), which forms the legal basis for division of revenue among the counties, cannot be enacted.

The CRA said it wants to be allowed to conduct public participation in another push to help break the revenue division stalemate even as it asked politicians to abandon their hard-line partisan positions.

In a statement, the CRA said the constitution prescribes the underlying principles of public finance and focuses on equitable resource sharing.

Political process

It noted that the Senate and the country was divided along regional and party lines.

“This is not the right way forward for the country. There would be no vacuum in law if Senate doesn’t by resolution determine the third basis for allocating revenues among counties,” CRA said, noting that the Senate still has a window to use the second revenue sharing basis to allocate money to counties for financial year 2020/21.

“The commission acknowledges the fact that revenue allocation is a highly political process. However, (it) is also convinced that such a process should not be divisive. Based on the foregoing, CRA as a non-partisan entity should lead the discussions,” the commission said. On Tuesday last week, Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen successfully moved an adjournment motion to have debate on the formula deferred to today to allow Senators time to build consensus.

The opposing sides were to propose five senators each to a proposed committee. The committee was then required to harmonise all the proposed amendments to the committee’s report into a mediated version of CRA to be presented to the House for consideration today.

However, Speaker Ken Lusaka was yet to receive the list of individuals to the committee by Monday evening.

Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata, who is also the majority whip, has been the face behind the committee’s report while Mr Murkomen leads another faction that wants the report amended.

The Finance and Budget Committee chaired by Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru was having a procedural meeting on how to take the matter forward. This means that if nothing substantial is agreed on between the two opposing camps, the lawmakers will be forced to take a physical vote.

Merging of  proposals

This is the route that the House has been trying to avoid especially after consensus was proposed last week.

Mr Murkomen told the Nation that about 60 percent of the 67 Senators support the merging of the proposals by Senators Mutula Kilonzo Junior (Makueni) and Mithika Linturi (Meru) into one document.

Mr Kang’ata also registered his support for Linturi’s proposal despite being behind the committee’s report.

“We fully support Senator Linturi’s amendment as it minimises losses. This is the deal unless of course we decide to maintain the status quo through Senator Kilonzo Juniors amendment. The Senate leadership should now lead us in passing the same via consensus,” Mr Murkomen said.

Mr Murkomen also noted that the amendment has already been filed with the Speaker’s office for approval. But Mr Lusaka denied knowledge of such an amendment: “I have not seen anything so far.”  If the committee’s report was to be adopted without amendments, it means that 29 of the 47 counties will gain with 18 others — Vihiga and those largely from Coastal and North Eastern regions — losing out.

The proposal by Mr Kilonzo Jr seeks to have the Sh316.5 billion to the counties be the baseline for which the second generation formula should be used in dividing the cash.

Additional report by Paul Wafula