Ward reps have approved a supplementary budget to pay off more than Sh700 million in pending bills by June 30.<\/p>\n
Taita Taveta County Assembly voted to pay more than Sh273 million in recurrent bills and more than Sh379 million in development pending billsThe county is among those that are still lagging behind after President Uhuru Kenyatta directed all devolved units to pay all pending bills before the end of the 2018\/2019 financial year.<\/p>\n
In a press briefing yesterday, County Assembly Speaker Meshack Maganga said ward reps have approved the report of the county\u2019s second supplementary budget estimates for the financial year 2019\/2020.<\/p>\n
According to the budget, the projected recurrent expenditure has been put at 69 per cent while the development expenditure has been put at 31 per cent of the total revenue.This is in accordance with Section 15 (2) of the public finance management act that puts a minimum of 30 per cent on development expenditure.<\/p>\n
According to Mr Maganga, all the pending bills were captured in the supplementary budget estimates.In the budget estimates, the assembly\u2019s recurrent budget has been increased by Sh18 million to more than Sh599 million. The development budget has been reduced by Sh34 million.<\/p>\n
The budget committee said the adjustments are still within the recommendations of the Commission on Revenue Allocation as provided for in the County Allocation of Revenue Act 2019. The speaker directed that a monthly print out of payments should be submitted to the county assembly to ensure compliance with payment of the pending bills.\u201cThere will be no shortcut in the payment of the pending bills. We do not want the executive to abuse the presidential executive again,\u201d warned Maganga.<\/p>\n
The ward reps said they were determined to oversee the county\u2019s spending.\u201cWe will be very stringent in our oversight and legislative roles,\u201d\u00a0 he said.According to the speaker, health and education departments will be the major beneficiaries in the supplementary budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my prayer that by the end of this financial year, the county government will be free from debts, and embark on the development agenda come the next financial year. There should be no further pending bills,\u201d\u00a0 he said.Majority Leader Jason Tuja said no ward projects would be implemented in this financial year to allow for the payment of the pending billsTuja said that the pending bills have increased poverty and unemployment levels and school dropout rates.<\/p>\n
But Governor Granton Samboja\u2019s administration claimed that the unpaid bills were occasioned by delayed disbursement of funds to by the central government.In the budget, Moi County Referral hospital has been allocated Sh100 million for a facelift while Wesu, Mwatate and Taveta Sub-County hospitals have received Sh 4 million each for upgrading.<\/p>\n
Scholarship and bursary funds have been allocated Sh150 million. Each of the 20 electoral wards will receive Sh5 million.The ward reps expressed concern that most of the county departments had not factored some projects in the supplementary budgets.\u201cFailure to factor in the pending bills in the supplementary budgets in this financial year puts the county administration at loggerheads with contractors and suppliers who have provided goods and services.<\/p>\n
It will also badly affect the delivery of quality services to the electorate,\u201d said the County Assembly Chief Whip Abraham Juma.Assembly budget and appropriation committee chairman Godwin Kilele confirmed that some pending bills had not been captured in the budget estimates. He said a list of these bills should be submitted for payment.<\/p>\n
The approval of the budget comes at a time as questions om the exact amount of the county\u2019s pending bills remain unanswered.In an earlier grilling session, Samboja\u2019s administration said bills worth Sh26 million were scheduled for payments, and bills worth Sh250 million did not have supporting documents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ward reps have approved a supplementary budget to pay off more than Sh700 million in pending bills by June 30. Taita Taveta County Assembly voted to pay more than Sh273 million in recurrent bills and more than Sh379 million in development pending billsThe county is among those that are still lagging behind after President Uhuru […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5,7,8],"tags":[362,1297],"class_list":["post-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-economy","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-president-uhuru-kenyatta","tag-taita-taveta-county-assembly"],"yoast_head":"\n