Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Murkomen has broken his silence after the Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio accused him of being behind the campaign to oppose the third basis for the allocation of county revenue.
Speaker Lusaka and Poghision on Sunday told People Daily that that team led by Senator Murkomen, a close and key ally of Deputy President William Ruto, was the ringleader of Team Kenya that has frustrated efforts to pass the new revenue sharing formula.
But firing back on Monday, August 10, Murkomen said his opposition and that of the so-called Team Kenya, was based on personal conviction and belief that the sharing of the Sh316 billion meant for counties should be a win-win for all.
“I would like to state unequivocally that my position and that of my colleagues, Senators Cleophas Malala (Kakamega), Mithika Linturi (Meru), Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi), Boniface Kabaka (Machakos) among others, is predicated on our personal conviction and belief that the sharing of national revenue should not – and must not – be a zero-sum game where for some counties to gain, others must lose,” said Murkomen.
Murkomen, who was ejected as the Senate Majority Leader in June, accused the new Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata of driving an agenda that only serves the political class in Kenya.
“The questions being raised by Senator Irungu Kang’ata and others, regarding my opposition to a formula that would see Elgeyo Marakwet gain, are an exemplification of how individualistic and self-centred Kenya’s political class has become,” said Murkomen.
He said the new proposed formula that was endorsed by the Commission for Revenue Allocation will see several counties robbed of much-needed cash.
“I will not, in good conscience, support a formula that seeks to rob and starve small and marginalised counties like Samburu, Tharaka Nithi, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Isiolo and many others, just to ensure my county – Elgeyo Marakwet – gains,” he said.
The Senate is set to vote on the revenue sharing formula for the eighth time on Tuesday, August 11, but not much has been achieved since the motion was adjourned last week at the request of Team Kenya.
An informal meeting that was to be chaired by the Murang’a Senator Kangataon Monday over the issue was cancelled following a directive from an undisclosed top government official.
Kang’ata was set to meet with over 40 senators, some of them non-voting lawmakers, in a bid to iron out differences and craft a strategy ahead of Tuesday session.
But Murkomen in his rejoinder to Lusaka and Poghisio warned that the revenue formula risks creating a divided nation.
“The unity of our nation is at stake; the very tendons that hold us together as a country are being cut off, and the spirit of fairness and equality which has for decades been our saving grace is being sacrificed at the altar of selfishness and greed,” warned the Ruto ally.
