Revenue debate: No county should lose, Ruto tells senators

Deputy President William Ruto has once again waded into the contentious revenue-sharing formula, insisting that the Senate must come up with one that leave no county suffering.

Addressing grassroots leaders from Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties at his Sugoi home in Uasin Gishu on Friday, DP Ruto said that even though populous counties have to get more resources, marginalised ones should not register big losses.

He said he does not see why the Senate can be defeated in finding a win-win formula when all parameters are considered in a bid to unite the country.

For DP Ruto, there is nothing blocking the Senate from ensuring equity is attained through the revenue-sharing formula the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) proposed.

"The Senate has the requisite leadership and wisdom to come up with a formula that takes into account all parameters and ensures populous counties have additional resources because we have all agreed that it is a constitutional requirement that we review the formula at this point in time," he said.

“But as we review the formula, we must ensure we move the country together and that populous counties such as Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Kiambu, Siaya, Kisumu, Nyeri, Kakamega and Bungoma get additional resources. But we must be careful that small counties like Vihiga, Tharaka-Nithi, Isiolo and Tana River, and marginalised counties like Turkana and those in Northeastern, do not suffer because we have not taken into consideration certain parameters.

“The gains should be moderated. It is possible for us to have a formula that gives Kenya a win-win scenario."

Hot debate

Debate on the revenue-sharing formula has intensified, with Dr Ruto’s allies in the Senate, led by Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo Marakwet), opposing the formula as one county cannot gain for another to lose.

Already the 12-member Senate committee formed to discuss the matter has started its formal meetings as it races against time to reach a solution agreeable to all competing parties in the house.

The committee co-chaired by Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula and Nairobi’s Johnson Sakaja met for the first time on Tuesday after the house approved the motion establishing it.

Its terms of reference are to develop a consensus on the 11 formulae presented and recommend for adoption, which, until Monday, had left the house deeply divided.

The DP had said creating a committee was the best route to take in resolving the stalemate through a win-win outcome.

The committee was formed on a day of high drama after the State arrested three senators - Christopher Lang'at (Bomet), Cleophas Malala (Kakamega, deputy minority leader) and Steve Lelegwe (Samburu), in what is believed to have been a scheme to stop them from participating in the vote.

The three lawmakers are opposed to the government-backed formula and are part of a 25-member group -- 19 from counties that will lose money if the formula is adopted and six from counties that will gain -- which has insisted that devolution should be about equity, not losers and winners.

Regional rhetoric

Both the national and county governments are in favour of a proposal by nominated Senator Petronila Were that wants the second-generation formula retained in sharing Sh316.5 billion among counties this year, as it seeks to increase the share to Sh348 billion.

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has called on Kenyans, more so the political class, to desist from trivialising the debate.

Mr Odinga accused the Senate of taking partisan positions on the matter and turning it into a case of losers versus winners.

"It is time to tone down the ethnic and regional rhetoric and diffuse tensions that bubbled to the surface over [and turned this debate] into a contest between losers and gainers, pastoralists and agriculturalists, regions and tribes," he said early this week.

"The state needs to pull back and abandon actions that take away gains made on our path to democratisation. The warlords need to stop beating the drums of war or financing the divisive rhetoric, and legislators involved in this matter need to search their souls in all honesty and put public good above private gain," he added.