Another clash looms over controversial Revenue Bill

Kenya: A major clash between Senate and the National Assembly is looming over the process of enactment of the Division of Revenue Bill.

The Bill, which divides national revenue between national and county governments, was the origin of a conflict between the two houses last year, prompting the Senate to move to the Supreme Court after the National Assembly by-passed the upper House and forwarded the proposed law for assent by the President.

And in a new confrontational move, the National Assembly Tuesday demanded to know the circumstances under which the Senate introduced the Bill in their House before it was enacted in theirs.

Before the Senate went on recess last week, it introduced the Division of Revenue Bill in their House, alongside the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, which dictates what each of the 47 counties is supposed to get.

The move caused disagreement Tuesday as the Bill came up for debate, with Suba MP John Mbadi seeking to know if it was proper to proceed to the second reading stage before the issue on why a similar Bill was before the Senate had been resolved.

Speaker Justin Muturi, terming Mbadi’s concerns legitimate, demanded to know from Majority Leader Aden Duale whether the Bill before the House had originated from the National Treasury.

“I have looked at the Bill before Senate, and it is similar to the Bill before this House, except for the signature,” said Duale, adding that he did not know why Senate had commenced the process of enacting the law.

“The procedure is that once we have passed this Bill here, we would send it to the Senate in the form of a message. Senate would only proceed with the message that we send to them,” said Duale.

Ignore Senate

Muturi directed that the House continues its process and ignore what is happening in the Senate.

“We will just proceed with our process. What they (Senate) do with the Bill that is before them is up to them,” ruled Muturi.

 Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki defended the process at Senate, saying it was not driven by any sinister motives, but was only meant to fast track the process of enacting the law, given the time constraints Parliament faces.

 “The 30 days required to commit the Bill to the relevant committee and allow for public participation will lapse while we are on recess and when we reconvene for special sitting, we shall resume for the second reading. It is a very noble move,” he said.

While moving debate on the Bill, Duale defended the allocation of Sh226 billion to counties, saying additional funding will help transform counties especially in the health sector.

However, the majority leader cautioned that counties must be accountable to the improved allocations.

Majority Chief Whip Katoo ole Metito urged the agencies responsible for costing of the devolved functions to fast track the process so that the right allocations are released to the devolved units.

-Story by Roselyne Obala, Moses Njagih and WIilfred Ayaga