This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
On July 2, 2019, Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja signed a memorandum to dissolve the county government over a budget impasse with members of the county assembly (MCAs).
The move was necessitated by wrangles over Sh830 million allocated by the MCAs through the Ward Development Fund, which the governor deemed as misallocation of funds.
Addressing the media in Wundanyi, Mr. Samboja stated that the budget impasse was adversely affecting development in the county, and he vowed not to give in to the MCAs' demands.
"There are no medicines in county health facilities. Water is a challenge to many residents yet they (MCAs) want to allocate themselves huge sums of money," he said.
He refuted claims that the county government had set aside Sh224 million to pay ghost workers, stating that the county had 1,200 casual staff whose contracts could not be terminated.
Mr. Samboja said the staff were nurses and Early Childhood Education (ECD) teachers, and that the county was facing a shortage of nurses.
On the other hand, the county assembly accused the executive of using the budget to pay ghost workers and vowed to initiate a headcount to weed out all ghost workers from the payroll.
