Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana has revealed the reasons behind his decision to vote against former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, saying it stemmed from concerns over the controversial revenue sharing policy.
According to Mungatana, Gachagua’s remarks about ‘one man, one vote, one shilling’ deeply offended him, particularly concerning the demographic situation of his county.
In an interview with a local TV station on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, Mungatana explained that his county, which has a vast land mass but a small population, would be unfairly disadvantaged by the ‘one man, one vote, one shilling’ policy.
He argued that such a system would fail to adequately address the needs of counties like his, where geographical size and population density vary significantly.
“I voted against Gachagua, and even before that, I had an issue with what he was doing. He had started talking about ‘one man, one vote, one shilling’, and I was very offended,” he said.
“Because my county has a vast land mass and small population, automatically, one man, one vote will disadvantage us.”
He further explained that the debate on this issue gained significant traction, forcing Gachagua to retreat from the position.
However, Mungatana’s concerns did not end there; he also took issue with Gachagua’s subsequent statements about fighting for the mountain region, adding that he even filed a censor motion against him.
“That debate got a lot of traction, and then he retreated on that; he stopped talking about that, and then he came up with the idea that he would fight for the mountain again. I took issue with that and even filed a censor motion,” he added.
Gachagua on the one man, one vote policy
During his tenure as the second in command, Gachagua advocated for fairness in the sharing of revenue through the one man, one vote, one shilling formula.
He argued that resources are about people, since the more they are, the more taxes they pay to the government.
“Rigathi Gachagua is a proponent of one man, one vote, one shilling. Resources are about people. The whole issue of resources is about people. The more you are, the more taxes you pay. The more taxes you pay, when it comes to sharing, you get more. We’ll push that, and we have no apologies to make,” he said.
“We want equality and equity. We want fairness in the sharing of revenue.”
The second in command also says that the Mt Kenya region should get a share of the Equalisation Fund for the benefit of areas that deserve it for development.
“I agree on the need to allocate funds from the Equalisation Fund. We have areas in this region, like Mbeere, Kieni, and Ndeiya, that are literally semi-arid and have been forgotten. We must work on this so they receive these funds,” Gachagua said.