The Ongoing Revenue Formula Debate is Unnecessarily Divisive – DP William Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto now wants the current debate on revenue formula debate stopped, terming it as “unnecessarily divisive”.

In a tweet that broke his long studious political silence, Ruto now says that the legislature (Senate and National Assembly) should structure a win-win formula that will not hurt any county.

“The ongoing revenue formula debate is unnecessarily divisive.The Constitution envisages fair and equitable sharing of all our resources.The legislature MUST as per its MANDATE structure a WIN-WIN formula that is sensitive to proposals made without hurting any county,” tweeted Ruto.

The ongoing revenue formula debate is unnecessarily divisive.The Constitution envisages fair and equitable sharing of all our resources.The legislature MUST as per its MANDATE structure a WIN-WIN formula that is sensitive to proposals made without hurting any county. INAWEZEKANA.

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) July 27, 2020

The senators have been divided on the formula for revenue division among counties, with some proposing that the division should be in proportion to land mass, while others want the revenue divided according to population.

It is reported that at least 30 senators are in support of a motion by Nairobi’s Johnson Sakaja seeking to ensure no county gets reduced allocation based on the third formula that will see regions that have been receiving a higher allocation because of their huge landmass and high poverty indices, get less.

Last week, Murang’a Senator and the Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kanga’ta threatened to mobilise political leaders from Mt Kenya region to oppose the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report if the new formula proposed by the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) is not passed.

“For us we have made the decision that on Tuesday no passage of the formula no BBI ,” said Kang’ata.

On Thursday, July 23, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka was forced to adjourn a sitting that had been convened to discuss the proposal after it became clear the formula was going to be shot down.

Senators from counties that will lose in the proposal by CRA have vowed to shoot down the motion, and it remains a matter of wait and see in the Senate sitting st for Tuesday, July 28.

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