Focus on development, Nyanza governors told : The Standard

An MP has accused Nyanza counties of spending heavily on recurrent expenditure at the expense of development. National Assembly Public Accounts Committee chairman Opiyo Wandayi claimed the governors were spending most of their financial allocations on employing staff, some of whom he noted, added no value. He added that the trend witnessed in the spending has starved the counties a chance to develop. Mr Wandayi was speaking at a press conference in Ugunja sub-county and underscored the need to hire qualified personnel especially in ignored departments like Agriculture.

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“We are worried that our people might lose out in this devolution program. It is a shame because Nyanza is the author of devolution. We are yet to see much development for our people, which is quite worrying,” he said. Poor development record He argued that if proper allocation for development continued missing, then the four counties are likely to lag behind in terms of development nationwide. “It does not matter how much we set aside for salaries or how much we consume in terms of other utilities, what is critical is the allocation for development projects .We still have time to work on this, the governors have three years to give the residents justice for their taxes,” he added. The Ugunja MP explained that the hallmark of the 2010 constitution is devolution and that is what Kenyans hoped would help spur development at the grass root.

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“The development desires of the people especially from Nyanza have not been met and they are disappointed. Residents are complaining bitterly and we would wish that is worked on as soon as possible,” noted Wandayi. He called on the governors to reorganise their priorities by putting more effort and emphasis on areas that really matter to those that elected them. Terrorism     Wandayi at the same time called on the National Government to consider coming up with a policy of insuring Kenyans against acts of terrorism. He said that individual Kenyans have no capacity to insure themselves against acts of terrorism and it is therefore upon the government to put in place a policy where the affected are compensated.

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Wandayi pointed  out that government helping bereaved families in transporting bodies is a minimal contribution as compared to the loss that those families gets to go through.

Related Topics

Opiyo WandayiDevolutionNyanza CountiesDevelopment