Waiguru takes budget battle to High Court

Kirinyaga County has moved to the High Court to challenge the amendment of the 2020/2021 budget by ward representatives.

The county filed a petition urging the court to certify it as urgent as the legal battle pitting Governor Anne Waiguru and ward representatives intensifies.

In the suit the devolved government has sued the Kirinyaga County Assembly over the alterations.

The assembly speaker, Anthony Gathumbi, has been listed as the second respondent.

Justice Weldon Korir issued a conservatory order suspending the implementation of the altered budget until the petition is heard and determined.

He also directed that the Appropriation Bill (2020) should not be assented to before the application is heard.

The county through the Finance executive Moses Migwi argued that the assembly illegally amended the budget meant for financing development projects and running the county and sought for conservatory orders.

"The assembly unlawfully and unilaterally amended the budget and we are seeking for the stay of its implementation," Mr Migwi said. 

Ms Waiguru and the MCAS have been embroiled in fierce battle over the budget.

The MCAs altered the budget presented by the governor saying it was not friendly to the residents and removed Sh111 million for county secretary's office and Sh59 million for executive's legal fees and diverted it to other purposes.

However, Ms Waiguru declined to approve the budget after it had been altered by the MCAs and returned it to the assembly with a memorundum, pinpointing the mistakes they had done.

Ms Waiguru said the MCA’s action was illegal and accused them of arm-twisting the executive to settle political scores for their own selfish gains.

“After losing their bid to impeach the governor, the MCAs have now disregarded the law and turned to the budget to hit back instead of putting the interests of the residents first,” she said in a statement.

She stressed that budget-making process was a very important part of her government’s planning and decision-making, which the MCAs should not meddle in.

She challenged the MCAs to be orderly, claiming they have no powers to arbitrarily amend the budget.

The governor observed that besides failing to approve the Budget on time, the MCAs amended the Budget, allocating themselves an additional Sh200 million in total disregard of the Public Finance Management Act of 2012.

She added that Regulation 37 (1) of the PFM (County Government) Regulations, 2015, limits the County Assembly variations on budget votes to one percent of the ceilings, so the MCAs have no powers to arbitrarily transfer funds from one vote to another.

“The estimates for the county executive and the county assembly are covered by the ceilings, which are contained in the County Allocation of Revenue Act (CARA) and, therefore, these amounts are ring-fenced by the Act and cannot be amended in the budget estimates” she said.

She also accused the MCAs of illegally assigning themselves the role of developing a county appropriations bill, which is the role of the county Finance Executive.

She asserted that the executive has been furnishing the assembly with budget implementation status reports as required, which gives the assembly an opportunity to scrutinise the progress of development projects in their wards as well as budget absorption.

She told the MCAs to direct their efforts to issues that will benefit the residents who elected them and desist from issues that jeopardise development.