Cord denies counties cash by Senate’s sitting boycott

The cash crisis in counties is set to last longer after Cord senators boycotted a special sitting called on Friday morning to approve the schedule indicating how much money the units are to get in the current financial year.

The schedule that was to be passed was to enable the 47 counties to start receiving the first tranche of the Sh300 billion allocated to them by the National Government.

Although there was quorum for the sitting to take place, there were only 16 senators in the chamber at noon — 13 from Jubilee and three from Cord — when the vote was taken.

The Cord senators present were Dan Mwazo (Taita Taveta), Dr Wilfred Machage (Migori) and Godliver Omondi (nominated).

For a vote to pass in the Senate, it has to garner the support of more than half of the 47 elected senators, who vote on behalf of their counties.

This means that without 24 elected senators backing the schedule, it could not be passed.

The absence of Cord senators was triggered by a protest letter to the Speaker by Minority Leader Moses Wetang’ula, who said he had not been consulted prior to the request by Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki to have the special sitting.

In the letter to the Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro dated August 4, Mr Wetang’ula said that Cord members could not attend the sitting because they were not involved in its planning.

“Consequently, my view is that the siting is inappropriate and I urge you to not only institutionalise consultations in future but also postpone this special sitting to an ordinary sitting day of next week, either Tuesday or Wednesday,” the Bungoma senator said in the letter.

LEADERS REBUKED
He added: “I have hence advised members from the Minority side not to attend the sitting for the House to lack quorum to vote on the matter.”

The Bungoma senator said that to put the sitting on a Friday — which is usually not a normal sitting day — required the input of the leadership of the Minority party in the House.

But Dr Machage dismissed the party leadership, saying that the session was very important for the counties.

“It is the duty of the Senate to ensure that funds are disbursed to the counties within the specified time. We should have all come to the Senate to pass such an important motion,” Dr Machage said.

He added: “Machage is not a switch that can be switched on and off any time. When it comes to representation, I stand tall for my county.”

In the special sitting, the senators were also expected to look at mediation reports of Bills that are supposed to be passed by Parliament by the constitutional deadline of August 27.

These are Community Land, the Land Laws (amendment) and the Water Bills that were brought from the National Assembly for debate in the House.

They were also expected to look at the Physical Planning Bill.

“The Disbursement Schedule is very critical as county governments will not be able to access the money allocated to them, requiring this special sitting on Friday,” said Prof Kithure Kindiki, the Senate Majority Leader.