The Senate is considering republishing the Division of Revenue Bill 2019 according to Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala. The Kakamega Senator has said the law doesn’t stop the Senate from publishing the Division of Revenue Bill, “It will emanate from the Senate with our figures,” he said, adding that if the National Assembly has other figures then they’ll amend it when it comes to them.
The Division of Revenue Bill entails the division of revenue raised nationally between the national and County governments in the 2019/2020 financial year and hasn’t been received well by Governors and Senators, who have faulted the figure proposed by the National Assembly. The National Assembly has insisted a figure of Kshs 310 billion while the Senate has stuck to Kshs 327 billion, leading to a collapse of mediation talks.
On Monday, the Governors sought the intervention of the Supreme Court into the matter and Senator Malala faulted the national government, “It’s very unfortunate that the national government is playing games with our Counties.” He affirmed that the Senate is fully behind the Governors, “We had a meeting last week with the Council of Governors, the leadership of the Senate, and a representation of the County assembly forum and we all agreed that we are coming to walk this journey together as players of devolution.”