Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana has criticised Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over his comments on pushing for a ‘one-man-one-shilling’ county revenue-sharing formula.

The proposed method is based on counties’ population and not geographical size.

Gachagua on Sunday said he will push for the formula's adoption to ensure what he described as equity and fairness in sharing national revenue with county governments.

Mungatana on Wednesday, however, dismissed the mechanism as discriminatory to sparsely populated and marginalised counties such as Tana River, Garissa and Isiolo.

In an interview with the local television station TV47, the senator said Gachagua’s comments are disappointing and detrimental to his presidential ambitions if he wishes to succeed William Ruto.

“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,” said Mungatana.

According to Mungatana, who is a member of Ruto and Gachagua’s UDA Party, the deputy president’s stance does not represent UDA’s position.

“That is not the UDA position. We have never sat as UDA to pass a policy pronounced by the DP. He is speaking about his issues,” said the senator.

“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.”

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.