This archive report was first published on 8 July 2020.
On August 8, 2018, the Kenyan Senate was set to debate a contentious revenue sharing formula that would allocate funds to the country's 47 counties.
However, 19 senators from arid and semi-arid regions were not pleased with the proposal, which they claimed would result in significant disparities in the allocation of revenue to counties.
The senators, who represent some of the poorest regions in the country, argued that the formula would unfairly benefit counties with larger populations and economies, while leaving their own constituents financially starved.
According to the senators, the proposed formula would reduce budgetary allocations to Nairobi and Mombasa Counties by reviewing downward provisions for urban services from 5% to 4%.
They accused some of their colleagues of attempting to subvert the law to unfairly increase budgetary allocation to some counties at the expense of other devolved units.
The senators claimed that the contentious formula was an improvement on the one proposed by the Commission on Revenue Allocation, which emphasized key parameters of distribution as health 20%, population 17%, agriculture 12% and poverty 15%.
However, they expressed concern that the new formula would still result in significant disparities in the allocation of revenue to counties, with some of the biggest losers being Mandera County, which would lose Ksh 2 billion, Wajir County, which would lose Ksh 1.4 billion, and Kwale and Kilifi, which would lose Ksh 1.2 and 1.1 billion shillings respectively.
