Meru Governor Peter Munya rejects budget, say MCAs cut growth funds

Nominated MCA Alhaji Mwendia. [PHOTO: MOSE SAMMY/STANDARD]

Meru Governor Peter Munya and the County Assembly are at loggerheads again, over the Sh8.3 billion budget.

The governor has rejected the Appropriation Bill 2016, which was approved by the assembly on June 30, saying it deprived the Executive of development funds.

A similar confrontation last year ended with the governor having his way, although the bone of contention was mainly about allocations to the contentious Ward Development Fund.

Nevertheless, the governor has had to appease the MCAs, especially supportive ones, to placate their egos.

The MCAs had passed the budget and urged the Executive to start implementing it without delay, as their 2017 political fate would be determined by its success.

A similar standoff was witnessed in Nyeri, where Governor Nderitu Gachagua rejected the estimates passed by the assembly.

Munya, in a memorandum dated July 11, referred the budget back to the assembly for it to consider vote heads for various departments.

He noted that the Bill as passed by the MCAs slashed development funds from last financial year’s 34 per cent to 31 per cent, saying this offended his development agenda.

The governor also recommended that the County Assembly surrenders Sh61 million it had allocated for building additional offices.

“The Sh61 million for construction of assembly offices is not tenable and it’s not prudent to build new offices,” Munya said, noting that the assembly was renovated recently, hence no need for more resources for new offices.

But Nominated MCA Alhaji Mwendia accused Munya of trying to sabotage MCAs’ development agenda, saying they need offices to operate from.

“MCAs do not have offices in wards and we are forced to work in our cars,” Mwendia said.

Speaker Joseph Kaberia said Munya’s memo will be debated on July 19 at 2.30pm.

Munya insisted that the overall development expenditure reverts to 33 per cent, saying the 31 per cent is marginally just above the recommended minimum percentage.

“Moreso, it is less than the previous financial year’s budget, which was at 34.37 per cent,” he said.

“We are in the last financial year and therefore it will not be prudent to initiate new projects such as construction of new offices. In any case, Sh50 million was allocated in the 2015/16 financial year and Sh28.9 million is still unspent. Thus, any further allocation for a project that is yet to start is unnecessary,” he added.

Munya also questioned the logic behind the MCAs removing Sh47 million from Agriculture department and allocating it to Public Service department for training and ward forums.

He said this would adversely affect the agriculture department, especially the recently launched Artificial Insemination programme.

He recommended that the Sh100 million deducted from assembly car loans and mortgages (Sh55 million) and construction of offices (Sh45 million) be distributed to Meru Microfinance Corporation recurrent (Sh23 million) Meru Investment Corporation development (Sh24 million) and Meru Micro-Finance Corporation development (Sh53 million).