Nakuru County allocates Sh148m for cars in budget

By KARANJA NJOROGE

Nakuru County Assembly has approved an ambitious Sh9.2 billion budget, which has a deficit of Sh1.9 billion.

Some of the allocations have caused eyebrows including Sh148 million set aside as car grants for the 72 elected and nominated Members of the County Assembly (MCA). A further Sh222 million has been allocated for mortgage of the MCAs with each member entitled to Sh3 million.

Other controversial allocations include Sh40 million set aside for the construction of the Governor’s residence and his entertainment allowance of Sh33 million.

Deliberations on the Budget and Appropriations Bill had been thrown into disarray after a Sh10 million discrepancy was discovered in the figures.

However, the assembly passed the Bill after members of the Budget and Appropriations Committee explained that the anomaly had been caused by a typographical error.

Speaker Susan Kihika summoned a special session on Friday to ensure the Bill was approved before the June 30 deadline. Roads, Education and Health are earmarked to get a huge chunk of the funds in the Sh9.2b budget. A total of 1.5b has been set aside for the Road Department, Education (Sh1 billion), Agriculture (156million), Lands (255 million), Trade (575 million) and Health (765 million).

Presenting the budget, the County Finance Minister Francis Mathea said they expect to raise Sh1.4b from local resources and Sh5.9 billion from the national Government.

Mathea said new measures would be introduced to raise additional revenue and bridge the deficit.

Among the measures will be the automation of revenue collection and the strengthening of the financial system. The Budget Appropriations Committee recommended that parking yards be established in strategic areas of the county as a way of increasing revenue.

Mathea said some of the revenue collection centres are manned by cartels and the County administration would strive to eliminate them.

He also said legislation would be introduced to levy charges on the horticultural and hospitality industry within the County.