Uhuru, Raila Plan Crisis Meeting Over Handshake Wrangles

President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) nd ODM leader Raila Odinga during a previous meeting
President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and ODM leader Raila Odinga during a previous meeting.
Daily Nation

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta are said to be planning crisis meeting talks to be held on Monday, July 27.

Reports by both Daily Nation and The Standard indicated that the meeting was convened following an impasse over the revenue sharing formula to counties which has rocked the Senate in recent weeks.

Raila is reportedly set to hold talks with Uhuru's allies to reach a consensus on the way forward over the revenue formula by the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) to share Sh316.5 billion among the 47 counties.

This comes after Jubilee leaders accused those allied to the former prime minister of not pushing his people to support the motion.

David Murathe during a press conference
David Murathe during a press conference at his Garden Estate home in Nairobi on January 6, 2018.
Daily Nation

"Raila will be meeting some party officials and the leadership of Parliament from Jubilee and ODM to try and reach a consensus to avert a government defeat on Tuesday,” a source close to the matter was quoted.

Nation, on the other hand, indicated that the head of state had dispatched former Jubilee interim Vice-Chair David Murathe to Kilifi to meet Raila at the coastal region where he is said to be resting from his surgery.

The paper, while quoting sources, also indicated that Uhuru was concerned with ODM leaders who were opposing the formula hence putting the handshake and the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in jeopardy.

Speaking about the matter, Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kang'ata noted that BBI would be at risk if the revenue sharing formula fronted by the state flopped at the Senate.

“We thought BBI was all about ‘one man, one shilling.' That’s the philosophy underpinning the committee's proposal.

“We shall bite the bullet. There shall be no more adjournment of the debate. We shall reconsider BBI if we lose the vote. If the government loses vote, BBI collapses,” stated Kang'ata.

Kang'ata, who was speaking at Kiamara, Murang'a County, where he distributed relief food to poor families, further warned that the state would reconsider the BBI proposals if the other leaders opposed the motion.

“On Tuesday, if senators from Nyanza, Coast and Northern Kenya gang up against the proposal on the revenue sharing, we shall consider the proposals spelled out in the BBI.

“If you support BBI, you should also be part of the proposal on the revenue sharing formula, if there is no sinister motive,” he added.

The meeting is expected to take place a day ahead of yet another Jubilee Parliamentary Group meeting, to be held on Tuesday, July 28, in which Kieleweke leaders are alleged to plan to convince their tangatanga counterparts to support the motion.

Below is Irung'u Kang'ata's video:

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