All county income spent on salaries

County assemblies continue to grapple with a cash crunch, with Uasin Gishu having just Sh1 million in its account and spending all its income on salaries and allowances.

In Baringo, assembly sessions have been postponed indefinitely and no business is being transacted, due to lack of funds, while in Bungoma, the Speaker has requested assembly members to forfeit sitting allowances as the cash crunch bites.

In Elgeyo-Marakwet, the assembly’s field work has been affected by lack of funds, with Deputy Speaker Paul Suter saying this had undermined the assembly’s oversight roles.

“We are not able to visit projects because of lack of funds and therefore our oversight role is on trial,” Mr Suter, who is also the Sambirir Ward representative, said.

And the Turkana County Assembly’s budget-making cycle is among vital House business affected by lack of funds.

Every committee is yet to submit crucial documents to the House that will inform the budget-making process.

At the Trans Nzoia County Assembly, officials remained evasive and refused to comment on the financial status of the legislative body that was implicated in the recent Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission’s List of Shame.

DEFIED CAP ON ALLOWANCES

However, some MCAs said the assembly had been facing financial problems mainly as a result of misappropriation of funds.

The Uasin Gishu County Assembly cash crunch comes in the wake of a report by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission that its ward reps topped the national list of members who have defied the commission’s cap on sitting allowances.

Last weekend, the salaries team reported that the reps pocket about three times more than is allowed in sitting allowances per month, walking away with an average of Sh312,339 from the allowances.

This translates into about Sh500,000 in salaries and allowances put together. The Uasin Gishu reps’ allowances are way above the Sh124,800 ceiling set by the Sarah Serem-led salaries team.

“Currently, we are only paying the salaries and allowances of members and all other operational costs have been grounded,” confessed Mr Richard Chepkonga, the Uasin Gishu County Assembly clerk, adding: “We are working on a supplementary budget which we hope will avoid grinding operations to a halt.”

Reporting by Arthur Situma, Philemon Suter, Raphael Wanjala, Sammy Lutta, Wycliffe Kipsang, Philip Bwayo, and Oscar Kakai