This archive report was first published on 14 July 2020.
July 14, 2020 - Kirinyaga County is on the brink of a constitutional crisis after Members of County Assembly (MCAs) began collecting signatures to dissolve the Governor Anne Waiguru-led administration.
The move, spearheaded by Majority Leader Kamau Murango, aims to gather over 60,000 signatures, exceeding the required 30,000 to dissolve the executive.
Speaking to the press, Murango revealed that he had already collected over 1,000 signatures in his ward, sparking concerns about the potential consequences of such a drastic action.
The development comes after Governor Waiguru released a statement accusing the county assembly of refusing to approve the 2020-2021 budget, citing a variation of over 30% from the original proposal.
Waiguru claimed that the assembly had submitted a completely new budget, going against the Public Finance (County Government) Act, 2015, which limits variations to 1% of the set limits.
However, Chairman of the County Assembly Budget Committee David Mathenge dismissed the Governor's claims, stating that the assembly had been requesting documents from her office in vain and had not removed any money from the budget.
The Governor vowed not to approve the specific alterations done to the budget, pointing out that the Assembly had moved over Ksh.300 million meant for salaries of health workers to construction of ward offices.
Waiguru also accused the county assembly of removing funds allocated for statutory obligations, including Ksh.58 million meant for payment of taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority, which would result in the county government being penalized.
