Senate Speaker Ethuro urges Uhuru to reject Division of Revenue Bill
Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro (centre) accompanied by Deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura (left) and National Assembly's Speaker Justin Muturi addressing the press at a past function. Photo/LABAN WALLOGA
What you need to know:
The next steps as prescribed by the Constitution in case of a dispute between Senate and the National Assembly:
The Speakers of both Houses shall appoint a mediation committee consisting of equal numbers of members of each House to attempt to develop a version of the Bill that both Houses will pass
- If the mediation committee agrees on a version of the Bill, each House shall vote to approve or reject that version of the Bill
- If both Houses approve the version of the Bill proposed by the mediation committee, the Speaker of the National Assembly shall refer the Bill to the President within seven days for assent
- If the mediation committee fails to agree on a version of the Bill within thirty days, or if a version proposed by the committee is rejected by either House, the Bill is defeated
- If the Bill is defeated, a new one will need to be published, and the whole process repeated. A Division of Revenue Bill is too important to be rejected though, because, if rejected, it will ferment a constitutional crisis.
- There are just 19 days left to the end of the Financial Year
Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro has written to President Uhuru Kenyatta and asked him to reject the Division of Revenue Bill that has been submitted for assent. Read (Raila to Uhuru: Reject Revenue Bill)
The Senate Speaker has also written to Attorney General, Prof Githu Muigai, with a plea to explain to the president why the Bill, as unilaterally approved by the National Assembly, was illegal.
“What Bill did they submit to the president when they did not even touch the Bill that was sent to the National Assembly from the Senate? A Bill has to follow a laid-down procedure before it is said to have been enacted,” said Mr Ethuro.
The aim is to get the Bill back to Parliament and have the two Speakers agree on a compromise on how the revenues between the National Government and the 47 County Governments will be shared.
Under the law, the two Speakers have to form a mediation committee with equal numbers of senators and members of the National Assembly, to thrash out their differences, and have the Bill approved afresh by the two Houses.
“As a Senate, we will be very disappointed (if the president goes ahead to sign that Bill into law). I don’t want to contemplate that my president can act in such an undemocratic manner,” the Senate Speaker added.
Mr Ethuro said it was “strange” for a committee of the National Assembly to ignore the Senate’s version of the Bill, given that it had been properly submitted to the House, and committed to the committees.
The Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly rejected the Senate’s version of the Bill, on grounds that the National Assembly Speaker, Mr Justin Muturi, had ruled that the Senate had no business looking at the Bill.
Mr Ethuro was optimistic that with “sufficient goodwill” between the National Assembly and the Senate, then an agreement will be reached quickly.
The Senate had allocated the counties Sh258 billion, an amount that was Sh48 billion more than the Sh210 billion, that the National Assembly thought the counties should share.
Mr Ethuro said he was waiting for a response from the President and the Attorney General to know what options the Senate was left with regarding the Bill, but he was categorical that it will be a bad precedent for the Bill to be assented to without input of the Senate.
“If we’re going to generate the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, after this Division of Revenue Bill has been signed into law without the Senate’s input, that will set a very bad precedent for the future,” said Mr Ethuro in an interview with the Nation on Monday, two days after he wrote the letter.
The Leader of Majority in the Senate, Mr Kithure Kindiki; and two chairmen of key committees in the Senate, Mr Amos Wako of the Legal Affairs; and Mr Kipchumba Murkomen of the Committee on Devolution have all urged Mr Kenyatta to reject the Bill.
