Waiguru calls out Kirinyaga MCAs for slashing budget to settle political differences

Waiguru calls out Kirinyaga MCAs for slashing budget to settle political differences

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has called out Kirinyaga MCAs for slashing the budget presented before them for approval to settle political scores.

The MCAs slashed Waiguru’s legal fee budget from Sh60 million to Sh1 million.

Further, they slashed money allocated to the office of the county secretary from a staggering Sh111 million to a paltry Sh1 million.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, June 1, Waiguru said the MCAs disregarded the law governing the allocation of budget to the county executive and county assembly as enshrined in the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA).

“The estimates for the County Executive and the County Assembly are covered by the ceilings which are contained in the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) and therefore, these amounts are ring-fenced by the act and cannot be amended in the budget estimates,” she said.

Waiguru further argued the MCAs had no powers to arbitrary amend the budget by slashing some allocations to unacceptable levels as guided by CARA.

The governor lamented that besides failing to approve the budget on time and slashing money allocated to the executive, the assembly awarded itself the highest amount, totalling to Sh569 million.

The amount, according to Waiguru, was Sh200 million in excess of what is envisaged by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 2012.

She called out the ward reps for playing politics at the expense of addressing issues affecting residents of Kirinyaga county.

“The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) 2012 limits the expenditures by the County Assembly to lower than twice the amount of personal emoluments or 7% of total revenues of the county government,” argued Waiguru.

The MCAs also awarded the office of the deputy governor Sh15.6 million from up from zero allocation in the proposed budget of Sh5.5 billion.