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County Assemblies in court to oppose budget cuts
Micah Cheserem, the chairman of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), speaking during a governors' meeting on county budgets at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi on June 26, 2013. County assemblies have moved to court to challenge the decision by the CRA to reduce their expenses. BILLY MUTAI | FILE
County assemblies have sued to challenge the decision by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) to reduce their budget expenses.
Justice Isaac Lenaola certified the case as urgent and set a hearing for Friday morning, July 25.
The assemblies oppose the budget caps imposed by the Controller of Budget and the CRA on salaries, allowances, gratuity and mileage.
The caps were imposed following a report revealing that Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) had spent Sh2 billion, some of which had little to do with their mandate.
FOREIGN TRAVEL
The public finance watchdogs also set the maximum funds to be allowed for foreign travel.
MCAs have been on the spot for spending a lot of money on foreign travel, funds that critics say could go to county development.
The county representatives also have been accused of arm-twisting governors to allocate more resources to them.
However, the MCAs say the decision to reduce their budgets lacks a legal basis, and have indicated an unwillingness to rewrite them so as to comply with new rules.
