Cash crunch looms after Kibwana rejects budget

PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | FILE Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana speaking to the press in the past. A budget crisis looms in Makueni County due to a stand-off between Prof Kibwana and assembly members.

What you need to know:

  • For the second time in successive budgets, Prof Kibwana said he would not approve the county’s estimates.
  • County Assembly Majority Leader Francis Mutuku said the ward leaders passed the budget to beat the June 30 deadline.

A budget crisis looms in Makueni County due to a stand-off between Governor Kivutha Kibwana and assembly members.

For the second time in successive budgets, Prof Kibwana said he would not approve the county’s estimates.

The governor has accused the ward representatives of allocating themselves Sh900 million in the Sh5.6 billion budget they passed for the 2014/2015 financial year.

He said the assembly had been allocated Sh674 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh216 million for car loans and mortgages.

Further, he accused them of illegally allocating themselves Sh240 million under a ward development fund that, he said, was unconstitutional.

The governor said the assembly passed the budget in a rush even after he had written to Speaker Steven Ngelu indicating areas to be corrected by the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Controller of Budget and the Constitution Implementation Commission.

His June 23 letter proposed an urgent meeting between the assembly’s and executive’s budget committees to discuss the sticky issues “but he (Speaker) chose to ignore it”.

“The Speaker will not lead in impunity under my watch,” said the governor. “I dare them to impeach me as I will not present to them the Appropriation Budget Bill nor sign the Sh1 billion they are demanding.”

He accused the assembly members of allocating the Sh240 million for wards when a Ward Development Fund Bill had not been approved.

The fund was also allocated Sh90 million for bursary yet only the Constituency Development Fund was mandated to offer bursaries, he said.

The governor said the assembly had allocated Sh67 million for domestic travel, Sh35 million for foreign travel and Sh44 million for training.

County Assembly Majority Leader Francis Mutuku said the ward leaders passed the budget to beat the June 30 deadline.

“The budget we passed had gone through the procedure required by the Constitution, therefore, we saw no need to meet and reverse the process,” he said.

The Leader of Majority urged the governor to convene a round table forum to discuss the issues raised and propose amendments where necessary.

DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURE

The assembly wanted the Sh216 million for members’ car loans and mortgages moved from the county executive’s finance and planning department to the county assembly budget under development expenditure, according to Prof Kibwana.

“The executive will be giving car and mortgage loans to the county assembly from the funds allocated to water department.”

The governor claimed he had not been involved in the drafting of the County Assembly’s Bill which, he said, was not presented to the Controller of Budget for approval.

“They knew that I would not approve their budget. Therefore, they hid it and showed me only minutes before they passed it.”

Last year, the governor and the county assembly were involved in a similar dispute.