Africa-Press – Kenya. Kiambu residents have opposed plans by the county government to spend Sh120 million to build homes for Governor Kimani Wamatangi, his deputy and the County Assembly Speaker.
The county allocated Sh45 million, Sh40 million and Sh35 million for Wamatangi, his deputy Rosemary Kirika and Speaker Charles Thiongo’s homes respectively. The proposals are contained in the county’s Sh21 billion 2023/2024 budget estimates.
The residents during a public participation forum in Thika town that was given a wide berth by most, rejected the proposals terming them as ill-timed saying the county administration should prioritise other projects that will benefit residents.
A standoff pitting the locals and some MCAs ensued when the residents demanded that the proposal to construct the county officials homes be scrapped from the budget.
“This is not a priority at this moment. We are currently grappling with a myriad of challenges that can be addressed with this money. Our hospitals do not have enough drugs and are understaffed; our ECDE centres are in need of rehabilitation and expansion. Why not channel the funds to such projects that will benefit residents and the community directly?” posed one of the participants.
At one point the vice chairman of the County Assembly budget committee, who’s also the Gatuanyaga MCA Jackson Kung’u threatened to eject resident who raised the concern from the meeting.
“If you have another agenda kindly don’t bring it here, this is our work. In fact I can tell the sergeant to kick you out of this meeting,” the MCA said.
He was also supported by Deputy Speaker and the Hospital ward MCA John Njiru who said the allocation won’t be scrapped. He said just like President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua have homes constructed by the National government, the county heads should also get homes funded by the allocation to the county government.
“We cannot channel the funds allocated to the governor to other projects. That is very disrespectful. If you have an issue with the governor, go address it elsewhere,” Njiru said.
The standoff was however quelled by Kamenu MCA Peter Mburu who calmly explained that the allocation is a requirement as per the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to build the county heads homes to scrap house allowances from their salaries.
“This is actually a good move and will save a lot of money for the county government. Building the houses will mean that they will no longer receive house allowances which amount to huge amounts of money,” Mburu said.
Other contentious issues raised in the budget include allocation of Sh19 million for construction of Juja subcounty offices. The offices are already constructed and in use. However MCA Njiru defended the move saying Juja Subcounty has been elevated to a municipality level and hence the need to expand the offices.
The locals also questioned plans to construct 80 boda boda sheds across the 60 wards at a cost of Sh46.42 million saying this amounts to wastage of resources that can be channeled to other meaningful projects.
The argued boda boda sheds have been constructed in their hundreds in all wards and therefore the funds should be redirected to other projects. In the budget estimates, communication supplies and services have been allocated Sh477 million raising eyebrows with residents asserting that such a huge amount of money should be allocated to developments. Recently, Wamatangi has come under pressure especially on social media with residents accusing him of underperforming and using PR to hoodwink them.
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