Senators fight over sharing of Sh1bn

Nominated senators have taken on their elected colleagues over the sharing of the Sh1 billion meant to enable the lawmakers to improve their oversight role.

The 20 nominated senators have accused their colleagues of disregarding the law that recognises that they are all senators, when they proposed that they should be allocated only Sh50 million.

The senators, who wanted at least 30 per cent of the funds, said they would fight for their constitutional rights, and threatened not to accept the money if the figure was not increased.

They said it was unfair to allocate each of the 47 elected senators an average of Sh19 million, against Sh2.5 million for each nominated lawmaker, yet they were expected to perform similar functions of ensuring that cash disbursed to counties was prudently spent.

“This is not money for development but oversight functions across the country. We will not accept anything less than what we are rightfully entitled to,” Ms Elizabeth Ongoro told the Nation on Sunday.

While lobbying for the fund to be included in the 2015/2016 financial budget, which is two months away, senators argued that due to cash constraints, they could not tour counties and ensure that the money channelled to regional governments was spent on prioritised projects.

“We pushed for this fund as a team and it is unfortunate that our elected colleagues now think we are lesser senators, who should just be given a token as opposed to our rightful share,” said Ms Ongoro.

Mr Paul Njoroge, who represents the interests of people with disabilities, said Kenyans would judge them harshly if they failed to deliver, because many people did not know that some senators were allocated little funds.

Senators Beth Mugo and Naisula Lesuuda said the composition of an ad hoc committee chaired by Mr Kiraitu Murungi was deliberately skewed to exclude the views of nominated lawmakers.