No hope yet: 12-member Senate committee still divided on revenue formula

Senators are yet to agree on the best formula to share county revenue one week after a 12-member committee was formed to try and resolve the stalemate.

The committee has been haggling for days now with no end in sight over the now controversial issue.

According to a source privy to the happenings in the committee, so far the National Treasury has gone mute on the committee after they requested for an extra Ksh.9 billion from the exchequer.

“Don’t be lied to, there is no agreement, and unless the Treasury agrees to our request and add us the Ksh.9 billion. I don’t see us agreeing,” the source told Citizen Digital.

The Senate was to meet for a special sitting on Tuesday, August 25 but Speaker Ken Lusaka says that won’t be happening.

‘’We don’t want to make it a joke that we will be meeting without a possibility of us agreeing, we will only meet if there is an indication from the committee that they have reached an agreement,” said Lusaka.

According to sources, counties that were gaining in the third basis for sharing revenue have refused to budge, insisting on getting what they believe rightfully belongs to them.

Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kangata is now proposing that the committee invites the leadership of the House to try and hammer out an acceptable solution.

Kangata says what is important is to get a solution rather than the speed of the process.

“We will wait for as long as we can, because we just don’t want to hasten the process, but we want to arrive at the best possible solution for all counties,” Kangata said.

The Senate has met and failed to agree on the best formula for nine (9) times with the sessions often characterized by high emotions and name calling.

This even as counties continue to suffer as they have not received their shareable revenue for two months now occasioning nonpayment of county staff and stalling of development projects.