Governor Godhana clashes with Tana River MCAs : The Standard

The County Assembly of Tana River County is up in arms against Governor Major (Rtd) Dhadho Godhana accusing him of derailing development activities in the area. Speaking at the Pride Inn Beach Resort Convention Centre and Spa, the Members of County Assembly said that they were irked by utterance attributed to the Governor over their alleged failure to properly manage ward bursary kitties. ''We are dismayed by Governor Godhana’s blatant accusation that we have mismanaged the bursaries and wish to put the point straight that it is his administration which has been delaying disbursement of bursary kitty funds until towards the end of the year and in most cases those who do not qualify for such funds benefit instead,'' said Sammy Adio, the Chairman of Budget Committee who read the statement on behalf of the 23 MCAs. Adio reminded Dhadho that he has no legal mandate to allocate extra Sh 5million as he alleged when saying that his administration had increased bursary kitty from Sh 5million to Sh 10million.

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He added that section (3) (2) (b) of the Ward Bursary Fund Administration Act 2014 clearly states that an amount of not less 2.5 per decent of sharable revenue received by the County Government from the National treasury shall be paid into the fund. The MCAs also took issue with the Governor for unilaterally deciding to relocate the County headquarters from Hola to Dayate without following due process. ''It is important to note that relocation of the a county headquarter is never a man show and currently it is not a priority to the people of Tana River,'' said Mr Ibrahim Salah Adomow, MCA Bungale and Leader of Majority. Adomow further alleged that tenders for the county government were not benefiting ordinary people but outsiders who have been known to bribe county officials to be awarded the lucrative tenders In his rejoinder, Governor Godhana, speaking through his Personal Assistant Mr Moses Nandalwa denied the notion that he is not committed to bringing faster development to the County.

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''We respect our MCAs and do not wish to be in constant argument with them.The Governor and MCAs included have the development of the entire Tana River  in mind ,'' Nandalwa told the media in a separate interview in Mombasa. Nandalwa said that on matters development, it is prudent to note that Governor Godhana has never sidelined his MCAs and has taken the lead to ensure that support infrastructure projects like passable roads, access to clean drinking water remain top on his development agenda. He singled out for mention the completion of the Garsen market which is ready for occupation, acquisition of 5 mobile water boozers, planned upgrade of Hola airstrip to enable commercial air service start operations and meetings with key investors to woe them to set up business in the county. He said that for formidable development to be attained in the County of Tana River, both the county assembly and the Executive must work hand in hand.

Related Topics

Tana River CountyGodhanaGovernorClashMCAs