By Dennis Onyango
KISUMU, KENYA: A Kisumu County committee has opposed plans to settle a Sh375m debt incurred by the defunct Kisumu Municipal Council.
Members of the Kisumu County Budget and Appropriations Committee rejected payment of debts from the county government kitty and called for investigations on how the debt was incurred.
In their report for the 2013/14 budget revenue and expenditure estimates, they recommended the debt be excluded from the budget and an ad hoc committee formed to verify the debts.
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“There is a Bill in the Senate which intends to compel the national government to take up all the debts incurred by the former local authorities. It is therefore imperative to wait for the outcome of this Bill before any budgetary provision” read part of the report which The Standard obtained.
They also want millions of shillings meant for civil servants’ gratuity expunged from the budget. This will see Sh18.6 million for education, youth, culture and social services, Sh3.2 million for Nyando administration and Sh16.3 million public health for the same area removed from the budget.
The committee wanted to know the reason why Kisumu City and Kisumu East had similar figures of a debt of Sh159,810,212.
In the report, they faulted the county executive for what they termed improper documentation of county budgets. “The Executive did not provide annex that shows the amount of resources budgeted for and how they were utilised,” the report indicated.
They made a raft of recommendations intended to reduce wastage in expenditure, saying the administrative structures created by the Constitution were many and expensive.
The total combined budget presented to the House amounted to Sh9.7 billion. This, the members said, left a deficit budget of over 1.8 billion. “We must reduce some of the huge expenditure in this budget without negatively impacting on service delivery,” the committee stated.
They also registered their displeasure with the county executive, claiming they had grossly understated the local revenues.
