Turkana bags lion’s share of Sh1bn fund

Turkana County will get the largest share of a Sh1 billion fund meant to enable senators step up their oversight roles, as claims of discrimination against nominated members threatened to divide the House.

The county will receive Sh27 million with Lamu getting the lowest at Sh13 million.

Nakuru County has the second highest allocation of Sh26,887,586 and Kakamega comes third with Sh26,324, 928.

The figures are based on the report of a task force on administration and disbursement of the monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment kitty.

Counties receiving the least cash include Tharaka-Nithi (Sh13,610,877), Elgeyo-Marakwet (Sh13,712,473), Taita-Taveta (Sh14,710,747), Laikipia (Sh14,853,002), Embu (Sh15,317,247), Vihiga (Sh15,456,308) and Isiolo (Sh15,755, 539).

The task force recommended that Sh920 million, which represents 92 per cent of the funds, be shared among the 47 elected senators, leaving only Sh50 million for the 20 nominated senators.

The funds will be disbursed to senators as a grant through the County Constituency Office, which is managed through the Parliamentary service Commission (PSC).

It is anticipated that the fund will be made available in the next financial year, which is two months away.

Nominated senators, however, accused their male counterparts of hatching a plot that saw each of them receive Sh2.5 million compared to their Sh27 million.

The legislators told the media yesterday that they deserved a bigger share as they represented more people than their elected counterparts.

“They have a county constituency and we have a national constituency to serve. We are asking for fairness and equity,” said Senator Beth Mugo.