The Senate yet again convenes today, unless the sitting is adjourned again, to deal with the now raging new Revenue sharing Formula for resources to the Counties and where the bone of contention is the elevated matrix of population of a County that will see sparsely populated counties receive less monies than before.
In this scheme of things it’s only the County of Vihiga from this region that will be affected. But there is no running away from the overarching importance of the population of a County being a critical factor in how much money a County should get from the National Budget.
If the fundamental principle of democracy is one man one woman one vote why should, in the allocation of tax resources, that principle be changed to some one man one woman in sparsely populated Counties being treated as more men and women than those in highly populated Counties. That is subversion of justice, equality, equity. Let those sparsely populated Counties that have been receiving revenue share that was not proportionate with their population eat humble pie and accept the new formula which is in accord with the Constitution. They should be thankful that for six years since the onset of devolution they have unfairly benefited to the detriment of highly populated Counties.
Senators Amos Wako of Busia, Moses Wetangula of Bungoma, Cleophas Malala of Kakamega, and Dr. Micheal Mbito of Trans Nzoia, you have no choice in this debate but to vote for the formula that will bring more resources to your specific County. On this you can’t sit on the fence, or purport to speak for Counties that will lose rightly revenue they ought not to get. Any beating about the bush, semantics by Senators Malala and Amos Wako will be plain betrayal and your electorate should, if you vote against the formula or abstain or absent from the senate, qualify you to be branded traitors of your electorate and eminently suitable for being voted out in 2022. Let this Senators from the Counties that will receive the additional monies be reminded that there is industrial scale poverty in Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Trans Nzoia Counties and every additional shilling due to these Counties must be fought for tooth and nail to come to the Counties.
This issue is not all fun and games and the electorate, MCAs, Governors of those Counties must warn their Senators to stop the cat and mouse game they have been playing and support the new formula without any apology to anybody.
The vote on revenue sharing is nothing about conscience, it is all about voting for more money to the Counties that deserve that money keeping in mind the hard and key fact which is population, period. There are no choices for these Senators. It is an open and shut case. The answer is only vote yes or you are a traitor to your electorate.