Ichung’wah pokes holes in Gachagua’s ‘one-man-one-shilling’ proposal

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah has discredited Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s proposal of a ‘one-man-one-shilling’ county revenue-sharing formula.

Gachagua on Sunday said he will push for the method, which is based on counties’ population and not geographical size, to ensure what he described as equity and fairness in sharing national revenue among the devolved units.

Ichung’wah however, says counties’ population cannot solely be used to determine their revenue share, arguing that there are less populous counties that generate more revenue than their more heavily settled counterparts.

“When I say there are regions that generate more revenue than others, we have a county that is not so big and among the country’s poorest; Kwale. But if you went to KRA books and looked at the revenue that comes from Kwale’s tourism and base titanium, it would beat what comes from other much larger, populous and less poor counties,” he told KTN News in a Wednesday night interview.

He termed Gachagua’s proposal “a good debate to have” but said it “needs to be engaged from a point of knowledge and empirical data, not emotions.”

The DP’s comments have sparked reactions from within President William Ruto’s UDA Party, of which he and Ichung’wah are members.

Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana, a UDA member, on Wednesday dismissed the mechanism as discriminatory to sparsely populated and marginalised counties such as Tana River, Garissa and Isiolo.

“He said he is a firm believer in ‘one-man-one-vote-one-shilling’. I am also a firm believer in ‘one-man-one-vote-one-square-kilometre’, so we differ completely. I want to tell the DP and his advisors that unless he doesn’t think Lamu, Tana River, Garissa, Isiolo, Turkana, Taita Taveta, and Marsabit counties are important… if he intends to be President, he is heading in the wrong direction and needs to be told in no uncertain terms that all of us listening to him are very disappointed with him,” the senator told the local television station TV47.

He added that the deputy president’s stance does not represent UDA’s position, saying “We have never sat as UDA to pass a policy pronounced by the DP. He is speaking about his issues.”

“When you're making such statements, at least call a PG meeting to hear other opinions, but if you go public, I will also go public and say you're wrong,” said the senator.

Gachagua on Sunday termed the formula critical for development in the Mount Kenya region.

“In matters of revenue sharing, I am a believer, a proponent of one-man-one-vote-one-shilling. Resources are about the people. The whole issue of resources is about the people. The more you are, the more taxes you pay. It goes without saying, the more taxes you pay, the more you should get,” said the DP.

County governments currently use a revenue allocation system where money is disbursed based on a county's landmass rather than population.

Article 202 (1) of the Constitution states that revenue raised nationally shall be shared equitably among the national and county governments.

Section 2 adds that "county governments may be given additional allocations from the national government's share of the revenue, either conditionally or unconditionally.

The DP’s proposal is similar to another put forward by Manyatta Member of Parliament Gitonga Mukunji in March 2023.

Mukunji's proposal however touched on Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) allocation.

Mukunji, another UDA legislator, argued that it was unfair for constituencies with a high population to receive the same CDF allocation as others with less population, claiming areas with a few residents end up having excess funds yet others are cash-strapped.