Angry MCAs eject civil society members from chambers

BARINGO, KENYA: Members of the civil society organizations in Baringo County have threatened to move to court and seek orders paralyzing next week's county budget reading.

This follows a decision by the county assembly to forcefully eject representatives of Baringo Civil Society Forum from the Public gallery after the MCAs allegedly felt uncomfortable with their presence.

"This unwarranted action contravenes Article 196 of Constitution of Kenya on public participation and County Assembly session. What is going on in the assembly is unacceptable and that is why we are seeking court's intervention," said their Chairman Isaiah Biwott.

According to the chairman, the session was the most important in the county budget making calendar, given that the report for budget and appropriation committee was being tabled before the house.

But Baringo County Assembly clerk Joseph Koech said he was not aware about the alleged eviction and promised to investigate the claims.

Prior to the confrontation, the Civil Society Forum had submitted a memorandum to the Clerk of the County Assembly a comprehensive analysis on 2016/2017 budget estimates which elicited mixed reactions from members of county Assembly.

"We were here because of concerns raised in the memorandum to ensure community priorities raised during public participation forums were factored in the County budget," he said.

According to him, the County Assembly has amended more than one per cent of the total budget estimates submitted by the County executive, which contravenes public finance management Act.

Biwott said there were deliberate actions by the County Assembly to curtail access to information on matters pertaining public finance by restricting access to house committee reports for scrutiny by the members of the public.

"This contravenes chapter twelve Article 210 0n principles of public finance which emphasizes on openness, accountability and public participation in financial matters which includes active public participation during County budget making process," he said.

They warned MCAs against taking up executive functions of the county Government by allegedly allocating Sh20, 000,000 to non –existent department of civic education in county assembly which is the function of the Executive.

The County Assembly has allocated approximately Sh578m to carter for foreign and domestic travel and allowances expenses which translates to Sh10m expenditure to be incurred by each MCA on top of Sh24m allocated to each ward as development fund.

For development expenditure in the county assembly, the MCAs allocated Sh65m an amount that the civil society said was against prudent use of public money and demanded for reduction.

They also questioned the setting aside of Sh3m meant for rehabilitation of Kapkut dispensary and another Sh1m for alleged completion of Ngolong dispensary, projects which according to the civil society are non-existent.