Kwale County Assembly yesterday allowed Governor Salim Mvurya time to prepare his brief and appear before the committee on General Oversight, following claims of alleged Executive smear campaign against the Legislature.
The governor was to appear before the MCAs following an outburst after the County Assembly rejected a Sh160 million supplementary budget to buy relief food to cushion residents against the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.
But yesterday County Assembly Speaker Sammy Ruwa said they had allowed the governor more time after he wrote a letter through the County Secretary Martin Mwaro on Tuesday evening seeking it.
Ruwa told journalists at the County Assembly buildings in Kwale town that they had formed a seven-member committee, led by Deputy Speaker Andrew Mulei, to review the governor’s letter and fix a date for him to appear before them.
“We have decided to give the governor reasonable time to prepare his brief and respond to the issues we raised when we requested him to appear before us. We do not want to get into a war of words with the Executive,” he said.
Leader of Minority Ndoro Mweruphe claimed some members of the Executive were spreading lies that MCAs were plotting to impeach the governor.
“There is no truth in the reports that we are planning to impeach the governor,” he said.
Leader of Majority Raia Mkungu said the governor should have written a memo to the County Assembly to express his dissatisfaction with the allocation of the Sh160 million supplementary budget instead of raising the matter in the public arena.
The MCAs maintained that they allocated more money to the Health department because Covid-19 patients required more medical interventions than food.
Mvurya and Ruwa have had a war of words after the County Assembly allocated the emergency fund for food Sh5 million instead of the proposed Sh160 million.
The governor indicated that the allocation of “only” Sh5 million was meant to frustrate the implementation of the food programme to vulnerable families.
The Speaker however maintained that the Assembly made the appropriation after consulting experts and residents on the priorities in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Speaker had written to the governor last Friday, asking him to appear before the MCAs and explain the alleged smear campaign against the County Assembly.
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