Kilifi MCAs pass budget, say senators helping to derail devolution
A past session at the Kilifi County Assembly.
Members of the Kilifi County Assembly have expressed their disappointment in the Senate, saying it had failed to protect devolution.
Led by Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Albert Kiraga, they said senators did not seem bothered even as the national government deprives counties of their allocations.
Speaking outside the assembly after approving a Sh14.8 billion budget for the 2021/2022 financial year, Mr Kiraga said senators had failed to ensure that counties get funding from the National Treasury as scheduled.
“The Senate has failed. One of their mandates is to ensure that counties work without any hindrances,” he said.
Senators, he said, had relaxed after passing the new revenue allocation formula.
“Most of the legal minds are in the Senate, including our own Mr Steward Madzayo, but late disbursement of funds is the main challenge we are facing,” he said.
“Every month, some officers from Kilifi County must travel to Nairobi to beg for money to be released. Instead of serving the public, these officers use much-needed funds to travel back and forth to get our allocation.”
The national government, he said, had come up with a scheme to deny counties their rightful share while using the same money to clear their debts.
The Treasury is yet to remit Sh1.5 billion to Kilifi County. The county government was yet to receive its April, May, and June allocations, Mr Kiraga said.
An increase in the budget for the 2021/2022 financial year to Sh14.8 billion from Sh14.6 billion in 2020/2021, he said, does not mean that there are additional funds.
He said the national government had consolidated grants that it always disbursed to counties and the money has been disbursed as equitable shares.
“This money used to come as conditional grants but now they have been consolidated and they formed part of the equitable share Kilifi County is getting,” he said.
Mwanamwinga MCA Pascal Mkanga, a member of the budget committee, said that when money is allocated to projects it must be available for the projects to be implemented.
“When there are no funds, it means that all development projects for the community will not be implemented,” he said.
Poor implementation of development projects, he said, means MCAs are blamed by voters for underperformance.
“It is the law and the right of every Kenyan to benefit from their county’s allocation. I’m not happy to see projects that would have changed the livelihoods of people of Kilifi stalled due to delays in the disbursement of funds from the National Treasury,” he added.
The national government, Jilore MCA Daniel Chai said, was intentionally working to kill devolution.
“Senators have failed to deliver their mandate and this is one way the national government is trying to frustrate devolution,” he said.
Kilifi was cited by the Office of the Controller of Budget for poor absorption of development funds but he said it is not possible to utilise funds whose disbursement is always delayed.
“There are timelines in the usage of funds, but how will we use all the money when it is not disbursed in time?” he said.
“It means there will be no implementation of the development project and this will negatively impact the public who are supposed to benefit from what they had proposed.”
