This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
Waiguru Seeks Uhuru's Intervention in Budget Row ¶
Published on July 13, 2020
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Jubilee Party Leadership to intervene in a standoff with Members of County Assembly (MCAs) over her county budget.
Waiguru highlighted various amendments made by a faction of the MCAs, stating that passing the document, as is, was impractical. She accused the MCAs of going against the requirement of Regulation 37(1) of the Public Finance (County Government) Regulations 2015, which limits the assembly variations to 1% of the ceilings after they presented a budget with a 30% variation.
Waiguru further accused the MCAs of removing over Ksh300 million meant to pay salaries for health workers and the construction of ward offices, terming the move as unacceptable and an affront to health workers who have been putting their lives on the line to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
She highlighted the various issues in the new proposed budget, including the removal of Ksh50 million allocated for conditional matching funds for coffee farmers, Ksh184 million allocated as conditional matching funds for donor-funded programs under Health, Agriculture, and Education, and Ksh58 million meant for payment of taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
Waiguru concluded by making it clear that she would not approve the specific alterations done to the budget, and urged MCAs to reconsider their proposals and put the people of Kirinyaga first.
