MCAs divided over sharing of Sh60m among committees sharing of Sh60m among committees divides MCAs

The skewed sharing of Sh60 million among three crucial committees of the Meru Assembly has elicited allegations of bias among the ward reps.

When Budget and Appropriations Committee chair Julius Mbijjiwe tabled the supplementary budget yesterday, he revealed that his team would draw Sh25 million from the kitty to discharge its duties.

The Public Accounts Committee was allocated Sh20 million while the Implementation Committee received Sh15 million.

Mr Mbijjiwe defended the allocations, saying his committee had a lot of work to do and that the Sh25 million was not enough.

But Implementation Committee chair Elijah Kirimi said the allocations were unfair and they would affect his team's task of providing oversight of county assembly decisions.

Lucy Mukaria, a committee member, said they did not have enough money to do their work.

“We have a lot of work that needs to be done. We have a mandate to provide oversight, scrutinise projects and ensure all laws passed in the assembly are implemented to the letter," Ms Mukaria said.

She added: "The Implementation Committee is not a lesser committee. We need to work together and not be selfish."

Ruth Kananu said there must be "equality in the assembly so that we can be equal to the task to deliver".

Peter Mutuma urged Speaker Joseph Kaberia to offer ‘Solomonic wisdom’ when MCAs took sides and a row erupted.

Finally, Mr Mbijjiwe moved a motion to create a Sh60 million pool from which all committees in the assembly will draw money for various functions on a need basis.