Members of Nyamira county assembly and the executive are locked up in a dispute over a budget deficit of Sh800million that was detected by the Controller of Budget less than a month ago.
The deficit was carried in the Sh7.3billion budget that was passed by the assembly towards the end of June, and it is the cause for the discomfort that
has been witnessed within the two quarters as they seek to fill the gap.
A row is brewing now over the modality of bridging the deficit which, according to the executive, came about from pending bills and unrealistic local revenue projections with MCAs vowing to guard monies that had been allocated for the MCAs and the assembly for development.
Already, battle lines have been drawn over the intended move to seal the void with members of the county assembly cautioning Governor John Nyagarama against affecting Sh600 million ward development cash that had already been budgeted for in the 2020/21 financial year.
The governor held a crisis meeting with the MCAs at his home where the budgetary amendments formed part of the main agenda, according to Nyamaiya ward MCA Raban Masira. According to Manga ward rep Enock Okero, the executive has already presented a proposal that the amount
meant to do projects in the 20 wards was going to be reduced by half; something which he says may not be acceptable to the MCAs.
Each of the 20 wards was to receive Sh30 million for various works as pleaded by locals but if the amount is sliced, it will mean that each of them will get only Sh15 million, an amount MCAs have said will not be enough for development in their respective areas.
“Slicing the cash will mean that we do away with major priority development projects. Even the Sh30 million was just but a drop in the ocean, but we had to take it after coming to terms with the executive,” Okero said.
Also to be affected is the Sh80 million budget allocated for the assembly’s
flagship project of building a multifunction office complex whose total value is estimated at Sh378 million. When asked concerning the deficit, finance executive john Omanwa said the deficit was as a result of a normal budgetary adjustment but declined to divulge more information regarding the matter.
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