LODWAR: The speaker of the National Assembly, Justin Muturi has defended county assembly members following allegations that they spend a lot on traveling.
Speaking at the Turkana county assembly headquarters in Lodwar, Muturi said that it is important for the members to benchmark with other counties and countries so that they can reach their level.
He noted that it was unfortunate that some research firms are too critical yet legislatures from other countries visit the country too to benchmark.
"I always receive legislatures from several other countries who come to Kenya to see how we are doing yet no one asks about them. It is unfortunate that some research firms are too critical on our legislatures yet they need to travel so that they can come and duplicate that in their counties so that we can also develop as a country," said the speaker.
The chairperson of the County Assembly Speakers’, Dr Nuh Abdi Nassir, who is also the speaker of Tana River County, hit out on the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the Controller of Budget for releasing reports that states that MCAs use a lot of funds to travel.
He explained that the county assembly members have to travel to the farthest ends of the counties to reach out to the people.
"We have to travel to the farthest corners of our counties so that we can reach and serve our people. The constitution states that there should be public participation when it comes to some matters in the county and that is why we need to travel to get their views. The CRA and the controller of budget should consider this when they make such reports," said the legislature.
Turkana County Assembly speaker Geoffrey Kaituko accused the CRA and the Controller of Budget of taking over their constitutional function.
Kaituko noted that it is the county assembly's mandate to approve the county budget and not the controller of budget.
"According to the Constitution, it is our mandate to approve the budget. The CRA's function is advisory. We have put them on notice because no one is allowed to take up someone else's constitutional function," said the speaker.
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