PS Kibicho wants laws on revenue sharing reviewed

Karanja Kibicho, the Principal Secretary (PS) of Interior Ministry, has called for a review of laws and regulations, which will guide the sharing of national revenue and other public services.

Implying the importance of Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), Kibicho said a national dialogue was necessary to debate suitable amendments to the existing formulae that he termed unfair to densely populated counties.

Saying that he was expressing his personal views as ‘Citizen Kibicho’, the Interior PS said Kenya must have the courage to entrench equity in institutions.

“We must have these conversations. We cannot continue with a situation where a county of 2.5 million people is given the same voice as another that has 75,000 people. We can’t have a situation in which in some counties, the bursary fund only finances day scholars’ education, while in others, it is enough to fund beneficiaries’ studies abroad,” said the PS.

Further, Dr Kibicho faulted the criteria used by the Ministry of Education to allocate slots to qualified Form One and college entrants. Kibicho gave an example of his child, whom, he said, was discriminated against in favour of a candidate from a ‘marginalised’ county during Form One selection.

“Despite scoring 408 marks [in KCPE], my child was told he could not be admitted to his school of choice. The same slot was given to someone who had scored 356 [KCPE] marks in another county. We must be brave enough to question this arrangement,” he said.

Kibicho spoke in Chuka Town, Tharaka-Nithi County on Thursday, October 15, when he led 15 principal secretaries and the Secretary to the President’s Delivery Unit (PDU), Andrew Wakahiu, on an inspection of projects in the county.

The PS put rogue contractors on notice, saying the Government will crack the whip on companies that won tenders, yet are delaying in execution.

The Tharaka Nithi projects, which are currently under keen observation by the PS, include: the Chuka-Kanwa-Kareni Road, the Ciakariga-Marimanti-Gatunga Road and the Chogoria-Weru-Kiriani Road.

Others are the Chuka Kirubia Stadium that the contractor pledged to complete by December 2020, and the County Government Headquarters at Kathanwa. Ksh32 million has been disbursed for the project.

The National Development Implementation Technical Committee (NDITC), which Kibicho heads, directed the immediate fixing of the pump at the Kanjuki Water Treatment plant.

On the Chogoria Water supply project, the Committee said it would seek the intervention of the Ministry of Environment to expedite pending approvals.