Senate Is a Useless House. Senators have failed Kenyans, Amey.

The senators have failed Kenyans, livestock marketing council chairman Dubat Amey has said.

“The senate is house of senior and seasoned politicians with enough wisdom to guide the country in the right direction. What we seeing now is totally different. I am personally disappointed with our senators,” Amey said.

On Tuesday the house adjourned debate on contentious county revenue-sharing formula with 34 senators supporting, 26 against and one assentation.

Elgeyo Marawet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, rising on a point of order, sought the adjournment to give room for further consultation.

The Senate on six previous instances failed to agree on the revenue sharing formula proposed by the Finance Committee chaired by Kirinyaga Senator Charles Kibiru, plunging counties in a near financial crisis.

Amey said that the country has enough money to allocate additional resources to the ‘so called developed counties’ without reducing the same for marginalized counties.

“The bone of contention has been that we have counties that will lose in the new formula while others will gain. The best thing to do would be to retain part of the old formula and add a clause that will increase revenue for those counties with high population,” Amey said.

“It is only wise that the senators blend the two formula that will all the counties benefit. but one thing that they should not deviate from is a formula that will benefit the common mwananchi,” he added.

Amey regretted that the issue has been politicized with senators eyeing gubernatorial seats in 2022 wanting to increase the shares ‘for their counties for their own selfish gains’.

On North Eastern, Amey said the three counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera cannot afford to lose in the new sharing formula, ‘if anything the allocation should be increased’.

“We have been marginalized by previous regimes and we cannot allow the senate that should be protecting devolution and ensuring fair distribution of resources to be the same starving margined counties,” he noted.

The chairman called on president Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga to marshal their troops and ensure that come Tuesday the country has a solution to the stalemate.

On Wednesday, senator speaker Ken Lusaka appointed a nine-member committee to spearhead negotiations on the contentious issue that has seen governors lamenting that the continuous push and shove was only affecting operations in the counties.