Kingi stokes cash crisis, refuses to sign 2018/2019 budget

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi. [Photo/Courtesy]

A cash crisis is looming in the county after Governor Amason Kingi failed to assent to the 2018-2019 budget passed by the county assembly last month.

Mr Kingi instead sent the spending plan back to the assembly for further deliberations, saying some changes had to be made before he could sign it.

“The budget was unanimously passed by the House last month but a few days ago, the governor presented a memorandum declining the budget estimates,” said Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Albert Kiraga.

Kingi also resubmitted the name of Alio Ibrahim Adana as his nominee for the position of chief officer, two months after the MCAs rejected it.

“The assembly did not give me compelling reasons why Adan should not be employed in Kilifi County,” he wrote.

The assembly had slashed the budget for procuring an official house for the deputy governor from an estimated Sh214 million to Sh100 million.

According to the committee, the amount set aside for the house was outrageous. The ward reps said the house should not have been prioritised at the expense of development.

Non-priority areas

Mr Kiraga accused the county executive of focusing on "non-priority" areas.

The committee also reinstated funding for stalled projects that the executive had sidelined. A total of Sh508 million was set aside to complete the projects.

In the absence of a budget, the county assembly passed a vote to allow disbursement of money for salaries alone as its legal department prepared a response to the governor's concerns.

“If the governor fails to assent to the budget then it means we shall miss monies for recurrent and development expenditure and will only get half of the recurrent money to cater for salaries alone,” said Kiraga.

This year's budget has gone up to Sh13.06 billion from last year’s 11.99 billion.