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Nairobi — Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Leader Raila Odinga has pushed for an urgent resolution on the revenue allocation impasse between Senators and Members of the National Assembly faulting the latter for dipping their fingers in executive function.
Politics surrounding the control of the Sh10.5 billion Road Maintenance Levy Fund between MPs and Governors has continued to stall talks to iron out the stalemate over the equitable revenue share to the devolved units.
Odinga who has for months taken a break from national politics to focus on Africa Union Chairperson campaigns urged the lawmakers to find a quick solution to the deadlock.
He insisted that the revenue allocations to counties must be Sh 400 Billion as the constitution provides counties must get 15 percent of the total budget.
“The greed of the MPs, they want to be constructing roads, health centers and who’s going to be over sighting the executive. If the oversighter himself is the implementer, it doesn’t happen anywhere in the world,” he said in a press briefing in Nairobi.
Senators want counties to be given Sh400 billion as shareable revenue while MPs have proposed Sh380 billion for the devolved units.
The Opposition Leader implored the 18 member mediation committee co-chaired by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Mandera Senator Ali Roba to find a solution to unlock the county funds terming the impasse extremely scary, unhelpful and unnecessary.
Odinga expressed that the standoff between the sets a dangerous precedent following the consistent schemes by members of the national assembly to encroach on executive functions saying the move will occasion serious accountability crisis.
“The hidden reality however is that this standoff is about a power grab and an assault on the constitution that Members of the National Assembly want to execute and which will amount to a cruel betrayal of the people and an overhaul of our structure of governance,” he remarked.
The Orange Democratic Leader complained that Members of National Assembly have successfully managed to entrench he anomaly of managing funds which include the National Government Constituency Development Fund and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund despite clear constitutional provisions
“The members of National Assembly are also scheming to dip their fingers into more executive projects like Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) at the constituency level,”
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“MPs want to have their way with the abrogation of the constitution and now the houses are unable to agree on something the law is so clear on revenue share,” he noted.
Odinga scoffed at members of the national assembly terming them an enemy of devolution for supporting provisions that will lower the amount of money sharable to counties, against the provisions of the laws on the basis that the two levels of government should bear burden on revenue shortfall.
“This move is not only illegal and unconstitutional, it also sets an extremely dangerous precedent which, if allowed to stand, will lead to a slow but steady strangulation and eventual killing of counties,”
“The National Assembly must get it very clear that revenue allocation to counties can only go up, not down, unless the intention is to kill devolution,”
Members of the National Assembly in the committee co-chaired Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Mandera Senator are demanding the Council of Governors to withdraw the case to unlock the deadlock over the funds.
Justice Lawrence Mugambi froze the funds until the county bosses’ case is heard and determined and further suspended the National Assembly’s decision in August not to recognize governors as beneficiaries of the funds managed by the Kenya Roads Board.
The Committee Co-chair Ali Roba dismissed calls for talks between senators and the council of governors over the roads maintenance levy issue with a view to withdraw the case seeking to have governors wield influence on the roads kitty.
County Bosses have challenged the constitutionality of the National Assembly to deny the county governments funds collected from taxes for the purpose of maintaining roads yet county roads fall under their jurisdiction.
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