This archive report was first published on 18 September 2019.
On September 18, 2019, the Kenyan Senate was holding its sittings in Kitui County, where Senators were protesting a decision by the National Assembly to backdate the division of revenue bill 2019 to July 1, 2019.
According to the Senators, the version of the bill forwarded to President Uhuru Kenyatta for assent was not the bill adopted by the Senate.
Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka was put to task to explain if he appended his signature to the now-controversial bill before it was forwarded for assent.
President Kenyatta had assented to the law after months of push and pull between the bicameral house.
Meanwhile, Nairobi County had been allocated the lion's share of the Ksh316 billion of shareable revenue, with Ksh15.7 billion to be disbursed to the county.
Other counties, such as Turkana, Kakamega, Kilifi, and Mandera, were expected to receive 10 billion shillings each, while counties like Lamu, Tharaka Nithi, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Isiolo would receive a meagre 3 billion shillings.
The backdated bill had been three months in the making, resulting in a serious cash crunch in the devolved units.
