Governors want Sh350b allocation to counties

The Council of Governors will today launch a steering committee to drive their push for a referendum to force the national government to increase allocations to counties.

Speaking in Nyeri town during the annual general meeting of the Counties Pension Fund (CPF) yesterday, council chairman Isaac Ruto said the steering committee to be launched in Nairobi would lay the groundwork on how the push for the referendum will shape up in coming days.

He accused the Government of hoodwinking Kenyans into believing it was offering enough allocations to counties while actually basing its calculations on revenue collected over five years ago.

"The allocations we have under the current budget of Sh226 billion based on revenue for the 2009/10 financial year is far cry from what we would have got had they used the 2012/13 collections, which amounted to Sh777 billion. We are asking for Sh350 billion," said Mr Ruto.

He said there was no possibility of the referendum being sabotaged by being linked to a similar one being sought by the Opposition. Ruto said governors were pushing for an issues-based referendum unlike CORD, which is pushing for a political settlement of various grievances, which he "cannot even recall".

"We believe we have absolutely no reason to delink our push from that of CORD because Kenyans can see through the two plots and know what is at stake in each case," said Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua who accompanied Ruto.

Ruto said it was up to Kenyans to decide whether it is too early to hold another referendum.