Musalia Mudavadi’s ANC party has sharply differed with ODM leader Raila Odinga over the counties revenue sharing formula, which has ended in stalemate, a record seven times in the Senate.
Senators are now making the eighth attempt to unlock the gridlock, which is slowly paralysing operations at the counties.
ANC legislators led by deputy party leader Ayub Savula (Lugari) on Thursday threw their weight behind the one-man, one –shilling mantra.
“We reiterate our party leader’s position and call for a one–man, one–shilling arrangement and the marginalised counties be given what they shall have lost from the Equalisation Fund,” Savula said.
“While we acknowledge that a formula based on population is important, we need to ensure that people from marginalised areas are not punished.”
The joint statement was signed by eight ANC legislators – Savula, Alfred Agoi (Sabatia), Tindi Mwale (Butere), Titus Khamala (Lurambi), Beatrice Adagala (Vihiga Woman Representative), Ernest Kagesi (Vihiga), Justus Murunga (Matungu) and Oku Kaunya (Teso North).
The ANC position contradicts Raila’s new position on the formula, which advocates for a win-win situation similar to what Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja is proposing.
On Wednesday, Raila beat a hasty retreat and asked the CRA to go back to the drawing board and craft a formula that does not disadvantage any region.
“It should not be a winner and a loser. It should be a win-win situation. That was the reason why amendments were being proposed that you do not implement any formula now until more resources are made available,” he told NTV in an interview on Wednesday.
Last month, Mudavadi urged senators to move with speed to resolve the ongoing impasse on the new revenue allocation formula released by the Commission for Revenue Allocation.
Savula noted that the delay in passing the new formula is causing untold suffering to the wananchi and devolution as a whole.
“We are deeply saddened by the fact that county governments, who are recognised under the current Constitution, are being starved of resources and their operations negatively impacted,” he said.
“We particularly need to point out that the current cash flow crisis will have adversely affected how counties respond to the Covid 19 pandemic. Counties need resources to pay their health professionals and run operations.”
Mudavadi’s party demanded that Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka convenes a stakeholder’s consultative meeting consisting of leaders of Majority and Minority, Treasury, Commission of Revenue Allocation and Council of Governors to define a workable formula agreeable to all Kenyans.