This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu is facing a new challenge from the county assembly, just days after surviving an impeachment attempt.
At the center of the dispute is the 2020/2021 budget, which the assembly passed last week but reduced by Sh949 million from Sh11.2 billion to Sh10.3 billion.
The governor claims the assembly overstepped its constitutional mandate by slashing the budget of nearly all county departments, including the ministry of trade, which had its allocation reduced from Sh402 million to Sh220 million.
One of the projects affected is the Kitui County Textile Centre (Kicotec), which was set to receive Sh30 million to establish two new textile factories in Mwingi and Mutomo towns.
The governor had proposed to create about 1000 jobs with the new Kicotec branches and generate more than Sh500 million in domestic revenues through the sale of textile products.
However, the assembly reduced the revenue target set by the executive from Sh948 million to Sh600 million and dropped allocations for several projects, including the procurement of certified seeds and the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment.
The governor has accused the assembly of violating the Public Finance Management Act by making arbitrary changes to the budget.
"The PFM Act, Regulations 37 (1) clearly stipulates that any changes in the annual estimates of budget shall not exceed one percent of the vote's ceiling. The mutilated budget clearly violate this provision," the governor said.
