Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru rejected the amendments made by MCAs to the Supplementary 2 Budget that is supposed to accommodate funds for Covid-19 management.
In a press release seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the governor criticised that the MCAs had allocated more money to themselves at the expense of Kirinyaga residents.
The supplementary budget was meant to accommodate Ksh20 million to be used for putting in place mitigation measures against Coronavirus.
She explained that however, instead of passing the budget, the assembly went ahead to re-allocate Ksh100 million earlier allocated to Kerugoya Hospital Complex and another Ksh30 million which was to be used for in-house roads program and allocated them to ward-based projects.
Governor Waiguru accused that the assembly’s amendments were not practical since the funds that were originally factored in the financial year’s budget had been significantly absorbed, therefore reallocation was impractical and illegal
She added that the assembly’s demands to see the balances themselves were just delay tactics which have dealt a big blow to the fight against Covid-19 in the county.
“We had presented supplementary 2 budget to accommodate funds to help in the management of Covid-19 but now the MCAs have become a stumbling block by introducing amendments in the budget to allocate more funds to themselves.” read her statement.
Waiguru cautioned that playing politics with the budget was detrimental to service delivery to the people of Kirinyaga.
She cited that the reallocation of money from the hospital would hamper the delivery of universal health care to the county residents, while removal of Ksh30 million that was supposed to be used in the county roads repair would also have adverse effects on the ongoing in-house road rehabilitation program.
The governor called on the MCAs to put aside their selfish interests and consider what is beneficial to the residents.
"Even though the county does not currently have Covid-19 cases, delay in passing the budget may put many lives at risk should there be an outbreak of the disease in the county," she warned.
The Covid-19 budget was supposed to expand the county’s capacity to handle the pandemic by procuring some of the medical and non-medical equipment required as well as the expansion of Covid-19 isolation facilities among other interventions.
In the same breath, the governor termed as unfortunate the extent to which the assembly is going to frustrate the Executive, citing the ongoing threats to impeach some members of the county executive committee.
The MCAs had earlier filed motions to impeach finance executive Moses Wigwi and chief officer for roads, Joseph Makumi after rejecting the allocation of Ksh90 million for a governor's house.
