MCAs, executives set aside Sh329m for food and gifts
What you need to know:
- Agriculture, Special Programmes, Lands and Energy departments will nearly spend the same amount at Sh341 million .
- The county assembly has been allocated Sh88 million for domestic travel and allowances.
- Sh18 million will cater for transport while Sh70 million will be spent on daily allowances.
- The executive on other hand will spend Sh119 million on foreign and domestic trips and Sh18 million on catering services.
Nyeri MCAs and executives have set aside Sh329 million for food, travelling and gifts this financial year.
This is almost equivalent to the Sh364 million allocated to the health department’s development budget.
Agriculture, Special Programmes, Lands and Energy departments will nearly spend the same amount at Sh341 million .
The county assembly has been allocated Sh88 million for domestic travel and allowances and Sh18 million will cater for transport and the remaining Sh70 million will be spent on daily allowances.
The executive on other hand will spend Sh119 million on foreign and domestic trips and Sh18 million on catering services.
MCAs will not be blowing up taxpayers’ money in foreign trips as they did not allocate money for foreign travel.
They will spend a whopping Sh104 million on a vote head labelled Hospitality, Supplies and Services.
More than Sh10 million will be spent on catering, Sh88 million on seminars and Sh5 million on board allowances.
CLERK REFUSED TO COMMENT
The Sh10 million will be spent on food, drinks, gifts and accommodation.
County Assembly Clerk Jenard Mwiggeh refused to comment on the budget, terming it as a sensitive matter.
He cited the ongoing Sh6.4 budget stalemate as his reason for not commenting.
“At the moment I cannot comment on the matter because issues surrounding the budget have not been concluded. We cannot tell what will happen to the allocations,” he said.
Governor Nderitu Gachagua presented the budget to the assembly but MCAs changed it by more than the one per cent provided for by the law.
Mr Gachagua consequently refused to assent to the budget and MCAs have stuck to their guns, leading to the stalemate.
The county is operating on half of the 2015/2016 budget after the Controller of Budget approved a request by the region to withdraw funds.
Finance and Economic Planning docket will spend the highest amount on travel at Sh37 million, followed by the governor’s office and special programme docket at Sh23 million and Sh9 million respectively.
The other dockets’ allocations towards foreign and domestic trips are between Sh3 million and Sh7 million.
