Nakuru MCAs yet to pass budget month into financial year
Former Nakuru Finance Executive Peter Ketyenya.
A standoff is looming between the Nakuru County Assembly and the executive over delays in the budget-making process.
The stalemate could hurt Governor Lee Kinyanjui’s development plans in the last year of his first term in office and delay staff salaries in the coming months.
The Nation has learnt that both the executive and the assembly have been trading accusations over the impasse, with Governor Kinyanjui’s administration accusing the MCAs of allegedly disregarding the law and failing to pass the budget as required.
It has emerged that at the centre of the dispute is a disagreement over pending bills and savings from ward development projects for the 2020/2021 financial year.
In an interview with the Nation on Tuesday, Kabazi MCA Peter Mbae, who is a member of the county assembly’s budget committee, said that the executive has failed to submit requisite documents to the House to enable them pass the budget.
Pending bills
“I wish to state categorically that the delays in tabling the county budget has been occasioned by failure by the county treasury to submit an explanation of debt or pending bills to be paid in this financial year and also documents on the savings from each ward development project for the 2020/2021 financial year. We cannot blindly pass the budget,” stated Dr Mbae.
“We have only received the exchequer balances, which were provided last week. If the county executive submits the two remaining documents today, we will table the budget even tomorrow,” added the MCA.
Another MCA, who sought anonymity, claimed that the delays are calculated to aid in the misuse of county funds once the budget is passed.
“Why is Governor Kinyanjui’s administration reluctant to tell us the persons or entities to be paid pending bills and what they did for the county government? They must submit this before we pass the budget. Otherwise it could be a ploy to squander taxpayers’ money,” said the MCA.
Other MCAs have accused the National Treasury of intentionally failing to submit crucial documents, including the County Debt Management Strategy Paper that is necessary when developing a budget.
The absence of the two documents, according to Kihingo MCA George Kiere, means that the county will be allocating funds to ghost projects.
Bureaucratic red-tape
However, Finance Executive Peter Ketyenya told the Nation that the budget would be tabled in the assembly by the end of the week.
“We have experienced delays occasioned by the bureaucratic red-tape at the National Treasury. But we have submitted the necessary documents to the assembly and the process will be complete this week,” Dr Ketyenya said.
Due to the stalemate, county staff in Nakuru are now staring at delayed salaries for the coming months. Development projects could also be hurt by the delays.
The county government is yet to pass its 2021/2022 budget, a month after the lapse of the financial year. This is despite the Public Finance Management Act requiring county budgets to be passed and approved by June 30.
In the last financial year, Governor Kinyanjui’s administration approved a Sh14.5 billion budget, with the Health department getting the lion’s share.
