Elgeyo Marakwet County Governor Alex Tolgos has turned down an offer by his county to build him and the speaker residences worth Ksh100 million.
The governor turned down the 2018/2019 budget due to the huge cost of the residence indicating that it would impede on the cunty's development agenda.
The Elgeyo Marakwet County assembly had set aside Sh100 million for the official residence of both the governor and speaker in compliance with a Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) directive in 2016.
[caption caption="Elgeyo Marakwet County Governor Alex Tolgos"][/caption]
According to the directive, all the counties were required to build permanent residences for their governors owing to the huge housing allowance expenditure used in renting residences for governor.
But on his part, Governor Tolgos while rejecting the offer indicated that he was ready to forego his housing allowance for the next one year rather than have the huge expenditure.
Tolgos said that he would not assent to a budget as it would cut back on development spending and stall other projects that had been approved by members of the public.
"The Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2018/2019 which was presented to the assembly by the executive was approved by the wananchi," he noted.
"It will be unfair to deny them the development which they (wananchi) approved at the expense of the official residences," Tolgos added.
Tolgos further revealed that the county residents had approved projects on Agriculture, Livestock and Trade which should be prioritized.
The proposal to build the residences would see Trade lose Ksh17 million, Ksh13 million would be taken away from Livestock, while Agriculture and Roads would lose Ksh3 million each.
[caption caption="Elgeyo Marakwet County Governor Alex Tolgos"][/caption]
"I am willing to continue engaging with the wananchi until we reach a consensus instead of using more money, " Governor Tolgos concluded.