Meru MCAs passed the county’s appropriation bill after a month’s delay by raiding Governor Kawira Mwangaza’s office budget to fund her deputy who has protested being cash-strapped.
The ward reps passed the Sh13.9 billion 2024/2025 budget on Tuesday after impeaching the governor last week.
They deducted Sh29.9 million from the governor’s Sh160 million operations kitty to establish a sub vote for the office of the deputy governor, who does not see eye to eye with his boss.
During the budgeting process, governor Mwangaza had refused to concede on her deputy’s allocation with the MCAs vowing to slash her budget.
“We are doing this because we have received several petitions from deputy governor Isaac Mutuma who complained that his office was not being funded. As an oversight body, we must fix the problem in the office of the governor,” Minority whip Jim Muchui said.
Out of the Sh29.9 million Sh13.5 million has been set aside for purchasing vehicles for the deputy governor.
There was commotion last year after the county government attempted to tow away the deputy governor’s official car from a garage in Meru town.
The 2024/2025 budget is also a win for MCAs who successfully negotiated for an allocation of Sh1.6 billion to ward-based programmes, popularly known as the ward fund.
If Governor Mwangaza assents to the appropriation bill, each ward will get development projects worth Sh33 million, double the Sh15 million that was allocated in the 2022/2023 financial year and Sh3 million for education bursaries.
County Assembly budget and appropriations committee chairman Morris Ntarangwi defended the delay in the budgetary process, arguing it was for a good cause.
“The budget is historic because it indicates every project to be undertaken in the county. The budget clearly defines what the allocated funds will do on the ground. This ensures we devolve more resources to the people,” Mr Ntarangwi said.
While passing the county fiscal strategy paper 2024, the MCAs had advised the county treasury to create a vote for deputy governor Isaac Mutuma, failure to which they would do so themselves.
“The committee recommends that the governor designates an accounting officer for the office of the Deputy governor within 14 days of the publication of the enacted Meru County Appropriation Act, 2024.” The budget committee recommended.
Other curious allocations include Sh100 million for the county assembly Hansard system, Sh12 million for Mwanganthia Cooperative Posho mill and Sh15 million for avocado oil extraction machine for Abothuguchi cooperative.
The assembly had proposed to spend Sh40 million on the Hansard system in the 2021/2022 financial year but the funds were not allocated.
Also to benefit from changes made by the MCAs include striking health workers, Early childhood development education (ECDE) teachers, water engineers and agricultural extension officers who have been allocated Sh100 million, Sh90 million, Sh7 million and Sh8 million respectively for promotions and employment of new officers.
Health workers in Meru have been on strike for the last two weeks clamoring for promotions and increased workforce.
In their memorandum to the county assembly, health workers’ unions had called for the promotion of more than 900 nurses, clinical officers and doctors who have stagnated for up to 16 years at a cost of Sh260 million.
Persons with disabilities, who had complained of being sidelined in the budget will also receive Sh10 million for economic empowerment in the current financial year.
Meru hopes to raise Sh500 million from local revenue, Sh550 million from hospital fees and receive Sh10.8 billion from the exchequer. The county is also expecting more than Sh1.9 billion in grants for various development programmes.
The delay in passing the current financial year budget was sparked by a move by MCAs to allocate Sh45 million per ward against the executive’s recommendation of Sh15 million.
In protest, Finance executive Ibrahim Mutwiri sought an advisory from the Controller of Budget (COB) arguing that the MCAs had ‘overhauled and changed the basic structure of the CFSP’.
Consequently, the Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang’o hosted a mediation meeting where she directed the feuding parties to enter negotiations and avert a budgetary stalemate.
Two weeks ago, governor Mwangaza threatened not to assent to the appropriation bill if the MCAs failed to adhere to the negotiated budget.
