A standoff looms at the Senate after Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen threatened to stall the senate proceedings today unless his colleagues are present.
Murkomen’s sentiments come after a night that saw two senators part of Team Kenya holed up in their houses fearing arrest ahead of the crucial vote on Monday on the divisive revenue sharing formula.
“The Senate will not proceed this morning unless they produce Senators Cleophas Malala (Kakamega) and Senator Chrisptopher Langat (Bomet),” Murkomen said via Twitter on Monday.
“This is no longer about Money it’s about our lives !”
The Bomet Senator on Monday claimed that his home was surrounded by police.
Langat who stays in Nyayo estate claimed that he is being intimidated over his stand on the revenue standoff .
“There is no need of all this..I am being threatened from every corner and i have evidence.. I have talked to the speaker and everybody..,” he said.
Speaking from the window of his house to journalists, Langat said he was told to quarantine so that he does not appear today at the senate.
“When I refused to go to Bomet, they told me I will be arrested ..” he said.
Police officers dressed in blue and jungle green could be spotted around his house on Monday morning.
With regards to Malala, Murkomen claimed that the DCI sent officers to his house a few minutes to 3 am.
“They are planning to arrest him and ensure he does not participate in the division of revenue debate and vote in the Senate later today,” he said.
In a video seen by the Star, Malala was seen arguing with officers outside his house saying it was late to go to the DCI offices.
“Ni saa tisa usiku. wewe unaitwa nani? Who sends you at 3 am?” he was heard saying.
Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina said it will soon be their time to revenge.
“What goes around comes around! Soon it will be our time to revenge! If we can’t manage! Our children will arrest their children and force them the return all the money they are currently stealing,” he said.
The senators are part of Team Kenya, led by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja.
This is the camp opposing the committee formula—and whose amendment to the disputed formula is pending on the floor.
The harmonised version has been endorsed by the team , which comprises more than 25 senators opposed to the original finance committee’s formula.
But the proponents of the committee proposal, led by Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio and Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kang’ata, dismissed the agreement and said they were ready to go down to the wire.
However, Kenyans could have to wait longer for white smoke over the controversial formula for sharing cash among the counties after last-minute talks to unlock the Senate impasse collapsed.
Warring factions in the Senate have maintained their hardline positions. Senators continue digging in, despite eight sittings having been adjourned for lack of a solution.
The stalemate over the formula has stalled the passage of the County Allocation of Revenue Bill (CARA), 2020, legislation that outlines how the Sh316.5 billion allocated to the counties in the 2020-21 budget should be shared.
In the disputed formula proposed by the Finance and Budget Committee, 18 less populous counties of North Eastern, lower Eastern, Coast and parts of Rift Valley regions are losing Sh17 billion.
It has been rejected by senators from those regions who have also successfully managed to win over at least seven lawmakers from the counties that will gain funds.