Acting Speaker Elisha Oraro (pictured) adjourned the House Thursday afternoon to allow the Budget Committee to get enough copies of the budget for the 49 MCAs, ahead of the Thursday evening session/FILE – COURTESY
KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 12 – The Kisumu County Assembly convened Thursday evening to consider Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s reservations on the 2019/20 financial year budget.
Acting Speaker Elisha Oraro adjourned the House Thursday afternoon to allow the Budget Committee to get enough copies of the budget for the 49 MCAs, ahead of the Thursday evening session.
Nominated MCA Aslam Khan who is also the Vice Chairperson of the Budget Committee requested for some time to have the document photocopied.
The delay in passing of the budget has led to untold suffering especially for county workers who are currently on strike over unpaid July and August salaries.
Contractors and suppliers are also waiting for the payment of pending bills running into millions of shillings.
Governor Nyong’o had returned the budget to the Assembly with a memorandum setting in motion a 14-day timeline for the consideration of the budget afresh by the Assembly which will lapse on Thursday, September 12.
Kisumu West MCA George Ogutu told Capital FM News, Governor Nyong’o had returned the budget document after making some adjustments.
Ogutu said each of 35 wards had allocated in the budget Sh45 million for development but the Governor has insisted on reducing the figure to Sh40 million per ward.
The anticipated adoption of the revised 2019/20 financial year budget on Thursday is attributed to the ouster of Speaker Onyango Oloo (pictured) who was charged with graft-related offences on Monday./FILE – OJWANG JOE
The Governor also objected to a Sh230 million allocation for the construction of a modern Assembly, proposing Sh100 instead.
“If it is within the wisdom of the Governor that Sh. 100 million is enough to start building the Assembly, I don’t have a problem,” he said.
In the next budget, Governor Nyong’o has promised to put more money for the construction of the Assembly.
Muhoroni/Koru MCA Julius Genga attributed the delayed adoption of the 2019/20 financial year budget to failure by the Executive to furnish the Assembly with some documents for purposes of oversight and accountability.
The Assembly passed a Sh10.3 billion budget on August 23 after a two-month stalemate.
READ: Kisumu MCAs adopt Sh10bn 2019/20 budget, Sh4bn set aside for salaries
Genga said the Assembly was ready to pass the budget but could not proceed without getting a list of pending bills.
“We have some people who worked for the county and there have been numerous complaints that have been raised to the Assembly by contractors and suppliers that some of them have not been paid for the last five years,” he said.
Central Nyakach MCA Philemon Ojuok however apologized to the county workers for the delay in passing the budget noting that there was competing interest.
“I think one of the things that was coming from the Governor’s side was the commitment of so much to the Assembly at the moment because of the timelines,” he said.
The anticipated adoption of the revised 2019/20 financial year budget on Thursday is attributed to the ouster of Speaker Onyango Oloo who was charged with graft-related offences on Monday.
Oloo had insisted the Assembly would not allow the variation of the Sh10.3 billion budget passed on August 23.
The embattled Speaker is increasingly becoming isolated after MCAs deemed loyal to Oloo declared the support for the revised budget.
Over 20 MCAs who boycotted Wednesday’s session chaired by the newly elected Assembly Speaker (Acting) turned up to congratulate Oraro on his election.
They called upon him to unify the Assembly and put the interest of the MCAs first.
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