MPs from populous regions have rejected the proposed review of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) template for sharing the national cake among counties.

Housing Minister Soita Shitanda

CRA reduced the size of the population segment of the formula thereby cutting allocations initially recommended for populous areas like Nairobi, that lost as much as Sh1 billion.

Leaders from two of the most populous counties of Kakamega and Bungoma, which lost Sh400 million and Sh600 million respectively, warned of a bruising battle when the matter comes up before Parliament.

Proper procedure

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, Housing minister Soita Shitanda, assistant minister Manyala Keya and MPs Bonny Khalwale and Justus Kizito, lashed at CRA for trying to make amendments through the back door.

They urged CRA to follow the right procedure in addressing the issue of marginalisation and not to ‘sneak it in total disregard of the law’.

“CRA should check its work well and stick to the Constitution. The commission should scrutinise their proposals and confirm if they are in line with the devolved Government laws,” Mudavadi said.

Shitanda said CRA should allocate the monies factoring in the population and not poverty index as a measure of distribution.

Public views

But the commission’s chair Micah Cheserem attributed the changes to views from the public. However Shitanda and Khalwale told off Cheserem, stating the commission had no right to try to amend the Constitution.

“Kakamega County with a population of 1.3 million people cannot be compared to Turkana’s 885,000 or Lamu’s 300,000,” argued Shitanda.

Speaking at Machegene in Tigania West, Tigania East MP Peter Munya warned that the reduction of the population share index could stall development. Following the revision of the allocation formula, Meru County is expected to lose Shs694 million from Shs5.768 billion which had been allocated earlier.

By Roselyne Obala and Patrick Muthuri, The Standard