Saturday, June 15th 2013|
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| Deputy President Ruto and Ethuro in Lodwar on Saturday, [Photo: Lucas] |
NAIROBI, KENYA: Pricked by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to assent to the Division of Revenue Bill, members of the Senate have declared a spirited political and legal battle for personal survival and to defend what they consider an assault on devolution.
Well aware that the issue at hand is a hot potato, Deputy President William Ruto, who was initially not expected at the event, made a surprise showing in Turkana — perhaps to cool off the political heat. On Saturday, Ruto defended the Jubilee Government against claims that it wants to frustrate devolution. Ruto scoffed at a move by Senators to move to the Supreme Court over President Uhuru’s move to assent to the Division of Revenue Bill making it law.
The Deputy President said the Senators’ intention to push for a referendum to fight the President’s move was ill-advised.
“No one is trying to kill devolution. I think we have got this all wrong. During the campaigns we made it clear that we would fully support devolution,” he told guests at the Ethuro’s homecoming on Saturday. They included 16 Senators and six MPs. Senators who spoke before Ruto, however, said they would push on with their plans to protect devolution. Ruto said President Uhuru just followed the law in assenting to the Bill but that did not mean flow of revenue to the counties would be curtailed. “If Senators think money to the counties is inadequate, they should just liaise with their counterparts in the National Assembly and increase it,” he said.
Besides the drama, senators want to push for amendments to the Constitution. Towards this end, The Standard On Sunday has learnt of an ad-hoc meeting scheduled this Tuesday to explore avenues of the same. According to its convener, Busia County Senator and Chairman of Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee, Amos Wako, members will pick out critical clauses for amendment through a popular initiative with a view to protecting devolution.
Quoting Article 257 of the Constitution, the former Attorney-General explains that this initiative will require the collection of at least one million signatures, to be forwarded to the electoral body. The Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission will in turn send a memorandum to the County Assemblies for debate and determination. “If majority of the assemblies approve the amendments, then the Senate and National Assembly will ratify the same by simple majority. Failure of the same will provide that the matter is determined through a referendum,” says Wako.
Crisis at hand
Nominated Senator Dr Agnes Zani points out that contrary to emerging perception, the crisis at hand is not a fight for self-survival by the Senators: “This is not about us but the country. The question, therefore, should be whether or not the President and his Deputy are committed to devolution.”
Because of its key place in the democratic process, Leader of Majority in the Senate, Prof Kindiki Kithure, observes that members of the Senate across the political divide are firmly united on devolution“We have received all manner of attacks from our National Assembly colleagues over this matter. Sadly, many people are assuming that the Senate lacks serious politicians. In here we have the best — the finest and most experienced and when we hit the campaign trail, we shall drive our point home,” says the Senator, who is allied to TNA.
That those spearheading the agenda of the Senate are mainly from the TNA and the Ruto-led URP party, is a factor that is bound to put the concerned politicians on a collision course with their principals at the Executive. Besides Kindiki and Senate Speaker Ethuro, URP’s Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has also been a vocal defender of devolution. He also serves as Chairman of the Committee on Devolved Government.
Murkomen opines that the situation has been worsened by the myopic leadership of the National Assembly that is playing into the trap of so-called supremacy battles between the two Houses. These hostilities, he claims, have been misinterpreted to the President and his Deputy. Nairobi County Senator Mike Mbuvi Sonko, who has opted to blame the President’s advisers for the current hitch, shares this view.
The Senators view the decision by the President to assent to the Division of Revenue Bill as an attempt to starve the county governments of cash and frustrate devolution altogether. The Senate wanted Sh258 billion allocated to the counties, but they have had to contend with a lower Sh210 billion.
“It is neither the National Assembly’s nor the Senate’s role to allocate National and County governments funds — Of course this falls on Mr Micah Cheserem’s Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) team,” argues a top official in the National Treasury Ministry, who pleaded anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to the Press.
According to the official, CRA has already concluded this process after working on its calculation based on primary factors based on county populations and the poverty index.
“When the Treasury set the figure at Sh190 billion, Deputy President Ruto arbitrated between the Treasury and CRA. The result of this was the raising of the figure from Sh190 billion to Sh210 billion. And this was within the overall budget of Sh1.6 trillion,” he says. But the Senate, he points out, proposed a Sh48 billion increase — from Sh210 billion to Sh258 billion, without consulting anyone: “What is more, the counties are two months old and they will spend the next year setting up. In fact, full services will be devolved to counties after three years”.
Murkomen concurs that the current friction is linked to budgetary allocation. The Senate, he explains, is basically fighting for counties’ interests, which translates to reducing the budget for the national government. “We are viewed as ‘enemies’ because we are denying the National government latitude to access enough resources and control the government. Naturally they are unhappy with us, but the County governments are happy,” says Murkomen. In the meantime, Senators, who are yet to establish a kitty from which to finance their activities, continue with their push. Lately, they have been holding meetings in five-star hotels, the last of which they were joined by Governors and County Speakers across the country
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