By Moses Njagih

Nairobi, Kenya: The raging supremacy battle between the Senate and the National Assembly has moved a notch higher even as Kenyans wait to know the fate of the Bill which seeks to divide revenue between national and county governments.

The National Assembly, which failed to take its recess last week to deal with the Bill and their contentious pay dispute, will be on spotlight this week on how they deal with the Division of Revenue Bill, which has created a wedge between them and their sister legislative body.

The Senate sent back the Bill to the National Assembly after making amendments to it, including raising the allocations to the county governments from Sh210 billion that the assembly had set to Sh258 billion.

Sunday, the Senate placed in the dailies a paid-up advert of the ruling of its Speaker Ekwee Ethuro, defending the position of the House to handle the Bill, which had originated from the National Assembly.

The Bill has been the subject of contention between the two Houses, with the National Assembly insisting that the Senate had no role to play it.

It is this position that was held by the National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi when he ruled that it was erroneous for the House to send the Bill to the Senate for concurrence.

Ethuro has dismissed Muturi’s change of position, insisting that the Constitution, Standing Orders of the two Houses and the Public Finance Management Act, stipulate that the Bill be committed to the Senate for concurrence.

Defend role

Meanwhile, members of the Senate have declared that they will fight to defend the role of counties in devolving power and resources to people at grassroots level.

Speaking in Kidundu grounds during the homecoming ceremony of Vihiga Senator George Khaniri, Speaker of the Senate Ekwe Ethuro reiterated that it is the Senate, not the National Assembly, that is mandated to pass legislation regarding running of devolved governments.

“As members of the Senate, we will ensure devolution works out as envisaged in the Constitution. Kenyans are not interested to know who is superior amongst us, they want us to perform and to ensure county governments are well funded  in order for them to enjoy services such as education, health and infrastructure,’’ said Ethuro.

-Additional reporting by Grace Wekesa and Eric Lungai