Broke Taita-Taveta assembly risks closure

The Taita-Taveta assembly is broke and may be forced to close down, Public Accounts Committee chairman Ahmed Omar said on Monday.

The assembly has depleted the Sh265 million it was allocated in the 2014/2015 financial year and has no alternative source of funds at the moment.

Mr Omar accused the Controller of Budget and the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) of frustrating county assemblies by denying them enough funds.

He said his assembly was given less than the Sh555 million it had projected. “That is why we are facing a serious shortage of funds and we may be forced to shut down,” said Mr Omar.

“What we were allocated was way below what we had expected. We are even having problems paying our staff.” 

SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET

He also accused the Council of Governors for facilitating ceilings of the cash they receive to ensure they depend on them at some point.

“Governors take part in making the ceilings because they want us to run to them once we run out of cash and this will automatically compromise our oversight role,” said Mr Omar. 

He revealed the executive was currently funding some of the assembly’s programmes. House Speaker Meshack Maghanga said the assembly was negotiating with CRA for a Sh150 million supplementary budget so that it’s activities do not stall. 

“We are waiting for the commission’s response on whether they will send us the money or not. We may be forced to adjourn much early if we don’t get the money,” said Mr Maghanga. 

MCAs are expected to decided whether they will adjourn this week or not.

“If the MCAs decide we go on recess earlier than normal, then mine is just to give guidance,” said the Speaker.

This came less than a week after the Bomet assembly announced similar financial challenges after spending all its money.

Speaker Geoffrey Kipng’etich said the assembly was running out of funds. The assembly has moved to the Senate seeking to have its ceiling reviewed to Sh336 million.