Senate Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio is now urging the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) to fast-track the release of half of each county’s entitlement to avoid a stoppage of operations.
He said this would be the best option as the Senate continued to seek an amicable solution to the current revenue division stalemate which has starved counties of cash.
Speaking at Getuya village in Ndia Constituency during the burial ceremony for Johnson Kibiru, who was the brother to the Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru, Poghisio said no matter how long the stalemate might last, the 11-man House Committee would certainly come up with a solution.
At the same time, Poghisio has blamed the electorate for voting in corrupt leaders who do not comply with Chapter Six of the Constitution on integrity.
“Chapter Six should be restored and applied where the voters will be able to hold their leaders accountable and the same voters should be blamed for electing the corrupt leaders we are hearing and seeing every day being implicated in high profile thefts of public funds,” he said.
“Chapter Six on integrity should be invoked before the 2022 general elections to lock out those with tainted past in corruption to avoid further regrets as is the case today,” added the official.
Poghisio further called on those implicated in the Covid-19 theft to step aside and wait for the results of a forensic audit to be undertaken and only resume office if cleared.
“If you have been implicated with the theft of the billions meant for the fight against the coronavirus do not wait to be sacked but honourably step aside to allow free and fair examination of the lost funds and if not found culpable, you will be free to resume your duties,” he said
The Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kangata told the mourners that the stalemate had provided an opportunity to know the true friends of Mt Kenya region whose leaders were proponents of the one man one vote one shilling revenue sharing formula.
Kangata said unless this formula was adopted, then the BBI would not see the light of day since densely populated counties had been subjected to a raw deal after the 2009 census which favoured the counties with less people.
“All am sure of is that at the end of the day and no matter how long this stalemate persists, we shall come up with a new formula based on last year’s census which was accurate unlike the 2009 one,” he said.
Embu Senator Njeru Ndwiga who was also present at the ceremony admitted that not all his colleagues were honest.
He said he was reading succession politics of 2022 in the revenue sharing stalemate and recalled how the 2009 census results were manipulated to give undue monetary gains to undeserving counties.
The late Kibiru had just retired from the Civil Service after rising to the position of Director of Survey and is survived by a wife and four children.
He was an ardent Anglican Church faithful and served as the chairman of the Githurai church in Nairobi until his demise a week ago. The funeral ceremony was presided over by Bishop Waweru.
By Irungu Mwangi
