Political detractors to blame for Laikipia budget impasse, says CEC

 

Laikipia Finance Executive Murungi Ndai has accused ‘political detractors’ of derailing passage of the county assembly’s Sh8.1 billion budget.

Inclusion of Sh1.116 billion infrastructure bond transaction in the 2021/2022 budget has also been deadlocked.

“Some political detractors are not happy about the infrastructure bond and I think the push-and-pull we’re witnessing is unnecessary. Those are selfish moves and should be stopped,” Mr Ndai said yesterday.

“The detractors have led to the delay in passage of the budget on time and this is injustice to the citizen. At the end of the day, the common mwananchi will suffer but not the government of the day,” he added.

The budget includes Sh5.1 billion equitable share, Sh1 billion own source revenue, Sh750 million conditional grant and projected Sh1.116 billion infrastructure bond transaction.

“We’re trying to find an innovative way of financing infrastructure upgrade but this is not going well with some political detractors. The impasse will result in delays in absorption of the budget and clearing of pending bills,” Mr Ndai said.

Bond proposal

Ward reps recently quashed the devolved unit’s attempt to include the bond proposal in the Supplementary Budget Estimates days before June 30, 2021.

In the budget estimates, the county government allocated Sh1.7 billion towards infrastructure, Sh2.1 billion for health and Sh536 million for the Assembly.

The leasing programme has been allocated Sh280 million to grade and gravel 900 kilometres. Upgrading key urban centres and markets has been allocated Sh933 million.

 “Infrastructure upgrade will spur economic activities by attracting investments in enterprise, manufacturing, service provision and tourism,” Mr Ndai said.

Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital and Nyahururu County Referral Hospital have been allocated Sh160.7 million and Sh140.7 million respectively.

The Executive has set aside Sh30 million for National Hospital Insurance Fund subsidies, while Sh33 million will go to paying stipends for community health volunteers, while Sh700 million has been set aside to settle contractors’ pending.

“We’re committed to ensuring liquidity in the market. This will involve prioritising payment of pending bills as the first charge by all the departments. We have set aside Sh700 million for this purpose,” Mr Ndai said.

Finance infrastructure

The devolved unit plans to float the Sh1.116 billion bond at the Nairobi Securities Exchange to finance infrastructure projects.

The assembly should pass the bond before it is presented to National Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council and the National Assembly for approval.    BY DAILY NATION