Senate Revenue Sharing Impasse

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tana
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Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2019 1:00 am

Senate Revenue Sharing Impasse

Post by tana » Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:03 am

The Senate failed to approve the contentious third generation basis formula on revenue sharing among counties for the seventh time on Tuesday

https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2020/0 ... te-stalls/
Some Kenyans are very mistaken when they think that the senate impasse over county funds has 2 sides - Senators for common Mwananchi Vs Senators against common Mwananchi.

Nothing like that. Ask yourself, why didn’t you hear about this issue of County Revenue Formula before?

It is not even Mt Kenya Vs N.E. Kenya or any other such clear division.

This is what has happened: 2 years ago, some Mt Kenya politicians started early 2022 campaigns.

When they were challenged and told to concentrate on development, rather than perpetual campaigning, they claimed that they were only fighting for “their people, who have not been receiving their fair share of county revenue allocation”.

That was the first time most Mt Kenya people heard that they were not receiving their fair share of the “National Cake”. The politicians who told Mt Kenya people that they have not been receiving their fair share of county revenue allocation, started a fire that is burning up to now.

To cut a long story short: People who didn’t have any opinion about County Revenue Formula, now have an opinion. And every region wants to gain at the expense of everyone else.

Politicians, across the board, have incited the people. The voters are on fire. The politicians don’t know what to do.

All Elected Senators have only 5 options:

1. Become NATIONAL Hero: You vote AGAINST a bill that INCREASES your county’s revenue, for the National Good - You kiss goodbye to chance of being RE-ELECTED.

2. Become LOCAL Hero: You vote FOR a bill that INCREASES your county’s revenue - Voters in your county see you as a hero, and increases your chance of being re-elected.

3. Become NATIONAL Hero: You vote FOR a bill that REDUCES your county’s revenue, for the National Good - You kiss goodbye to chance of being RE-ELECTED.

4. Become LOCAL Hero: You vote AGAINST a bill that REDUCES your county’s revenue - Voters in your county see you as a hero, and increases your chance of being re-elected.

5. Vote to postpone the problem indefinitely, and you can claim to be both a NATIONAL & LOCAL hero (34/47 Senators have chosen this option).

From online comments, some Senators are reaping big, in terms of popularity, by choosing option 5 above. If only Kenyans knew!

Source of Disagreement

The County Revenue Formula impasse is not caused by - as many people believe - the fact that some counties are “losing money”, or others are “gaining money”.

If that was the main reason that formula has completely stalled, then the side with the majority of senators would have demanded a vote, and won.

If majority of senators were ready to vote YES for the tabled formula, then why vote to postpone the vote?

If majority of senators were ready to vote NO for the tabled formula, then why vote to postpone the vote?

It doesn’t make sense.

The fact that 34 senators out of 47 - a clear majority, by far - voted to postpone the vote (for the 8th time?), then it means that, even if the formula was changed, there is high chance that there would be another demand from majority of senators to postpone the vote (for the 9th time?)…

Reason why even the side with majority of senators do not want the vote to go on?

Because there are YES senators who cannot vote YES, as long as the vote is done publicly. And there are NO senators who cannot vote NO, as long as the vote is done publicly.

Kenyans are being played.

SOLUTION: Have SECRET ballot. This will end the impasse.

If tabled County Revenue Formula Bill passes, it goes to implementation. If it fails, it must be changed to accomodate the views of the winning side.

PROBLEM SOLVED.
senate_revenue_sharing_impasse.jpg

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