The three months standoff witnessed in Parliament in 2019 over a Bill on county cash brought into focus the ability of the Senate to effectively protect the interest of the counties. The senators ceded ground on the dispute with their colleagues in the National Assembly over the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019. Their counterparts in the National Assembly had insisted that the counties should be allocated Sh316 billion, citing cash-flow challenges in the government. University lecturer Herman Manyora observes that the Constitution and the politics of the day have clipped the Senate’s powers to effectively protect the counties. “It does demonstrate that the Senate doesn’t have the kind of teeth that is supposed to protect the counties.

Source: The Star January 01, 2020 08:37 UTC