Raila on county revenue allocation stalemate: Senate should allow the country to move forward.

ODM leader Raila Odinga has on Monday spoken on the current stalemate on the new formula for revenue allocation to counties. In a press statement released by his office, Raila said that the current stand-off was ‘causing paralysis and mistrust at a time the country needs to be united and singularly focused on tackling the grave pandemic currently threatening the lives and livelihoods of our people’.

The former Prime Minister acknowledged that the Senate had failed to adopt its own amendments to the third basis formula for sharing revenue from the Commission for Revenue Allocation. ”The revenue sharing formula that the Senate has deadlocked over is a variation of what was recommended by the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA), the body mandated under Article 216 (1) of the Constitution of Kenya, to come up with a formula”, he said.

Mr. Odinga also indicated that the key principle in the recommendation by CRA for the next 5 financial years was that the allocation to the counties should be population-driven. ”Under the circumstances, the country and our people would be better served if we adopted the recommendation of the CRA for the next 5 years”, he explained.

He also relayed a word of advise for any future stand-offs similar to the current one which had threatened to create a cash crisis for counties, ”…the concerns currently arising should be forwarded to the CRA for consideration in its future recommendations”, and added that, ”Having had a robust debate on this matter, the Senate should now allow the country move forward by adopting the CRA report while using the concerns voiced for future recommendations on revenue sharing”.

My statement on the revenue sharing formula. pic.twitter.com/xPDV8tHyKJ

— Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) July 27, 2020