Leaders want controller pushed to release cash
What you need to know:
- The assemblies had tried to block the commission from limiting their spending after they lost a petition to shelve a circular issued by the Controller of Budget in 2014 that put a cap on the budgetary allocations for counties.
- “By the time you were going to court, where did you place Senate? Or were you going by the inaccurate rumour that we are an ‘old senile’ House,” Senator Ben Njoroge asked.
- “We decided to hire one counsel to cut costs. Each county would pay only Sh500,000 from their legal fees vote,” Mr Nur said.
Senators Thursday criticised county assemblies for rushing to court before consulting them over spending ceilings imposed by the Commission of Revenue Allocation.
The Senate Finance Committee chaired by Billow Kerow (Mandera) reprimanded the County Assemblies’ Forum for turning to the House only after their petition was thrown out.
High Court Judge Isaac Lenaola ruled against the county assemblies’ petition in his February 20 judgment.
The assemblies had tried to block the commission from limiting their spending after they lost a petition to shelve a circular issued by the Controller of Budget in 2014 that put a cap on the budgetary allocations for counties.
The budget boss, Mrs Agnes Odhiambo, has refused to release money to counties, arguing that the ceilings are binding. She said if the assemblies want more money, they should re-negotiate with the commission.
For their part, county assemblies argue that the spending limits are only advisory since they have not been adopted by the Senate yet.
COMPEL CONTROLLER OF BUDGET
The assemblies forum headed by Mr Nur Nassir Abdi now wants the Senate to compel the Controller of Budget to release money to each county according to their budgets.
They said that operations in most assemblies have ground to a halt as workers have not been paid and there is no money for MCAs to perform their duties.
“By the time you were going to court, where did you place Senate? Or were you going by the inaccurate rumour that we are an ‘old senile’ House,” Senator Ben Njoroge asked.
He also questioned how the forum financed the litigations. Mr Nur explained that the Sh25 million legal fees would be split among the 47 counties.
“We decided to hire one counsel to cut costs. Each county would pay only Sh500,000 from their legal fees vote,” Mr Nur said.
He explained that the decision to skip the Senate was a resolution of the forum governing council, therefore, going to court was not done by the counties to spite the Senate.
