Governor Ali Hassan Joho and Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar in fresh row over county spending

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar (right) confers with Sarah Mueni Odhiambo (left) and Oliver Mwindi. Omar accused the county government of maintaining a bloated workforce and spending too much money on recurrent expenditure at the expense of development projects. (PHOTO: KELVIN KARANI/ STANDARD)

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar and Governor Ali Hassan Joho yesterday renewed their rivalry over the county's budget and expenditure.

Omar accused the county government of maintaining a bloated workforce and spending too much money on recurrent expenditure at the expense of development projects.

The senator, who has declared interest in Joho's job next year, staged a forum to discuss the budget-making process at a time when the governor, who has grown increasingly critical of the Jubilee government, is campaigning for his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party outside the Coast.

And yesterday, Joho's cabinet was not invited to the forum and was only allowed to attend as observers.

Mombasa spent Sh20.5 billion on recurrent expenditure in 2013-2014, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 financial years compared to 10.9 billion on development for the same period.

According to the Mombasa county administration officials, Mombasa's workforce is currently at 4,200 employees.

The report from the Office of the Controller of Budget (OCB) released at a forum yesterday showed Mombasa has failed to tame rising recurrent expenditure.

In the last three years, the approved county budget shrunk from Sh11.7 billion in 2013-2014 to Sh.10.0 billion in 2015-2016 representing a 15 per cent drop.

Director of Research and Planning in the OCB Joshua Musyimi said the average allocation between recurrent and development budget in the last three years was 65 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.

Musyimi proposed rationalisation of the workforce, with the senator suggesting a sendoff package for those willing to retire early.

Omar also took issue with proposals in the county's 2016-2017 Finance Bill which allocates Sh390 million to build a residential house.

But a statement released by Joho's administration last evening claimed the Sh390 million figure was not budgeted for a house but was proposed for payment of creditors for the construction of early childhood education centres and health centres.

Yesterday six county executives, however, rushed to Joho's defense and accused Omar of waging propaganda against the county government.

CECs Hazel Koitaba (Finance), Tendai Lewa (Education), Binti Omar (Tourism) Hamis Mwaguya (Trade), Fatuma Awale (Water) and Mohamed Abbas (Youth) stormed the meeting but were barred from addressing it.

"How can he (Senator Omar) convene a conference to deliberate about the county budget and say we should only attend as observers and not participate? We must be allowed to state our side of the story," said Mr Lewa.