Some departments of Murang’a county government suffered a blow after funds they had been allocated were deducted as the Assembly readjusted supplementary budget.
On Monday when tabling the supplementary Budget before the House, chairperson of the Budget and Appropriation Committee Mr. Francis Kibe said some sections in the department of agriculture will lose some money allocated in 2018/2019.
Dairy Household Empowerment programme allocation of Sh. 100 million was reduced to only Sh. 5 million.
Money allocated to heifer programme was reduced by Sh. 20 million leaving Sh. 10 million only.
Other departments which suffered deductions of funds include ECDE feeding and school milk programme which Sh. 246 million was reduced by Sh. 116 million.
Some other departments however had their allocations increased with the governor’s office getting Sh. 121.9 million.
Health department funds were increased by Sh. 30 million while Sh. 70 million was added to County public service to facilitate employment of new staff.
Kibe told the House that the committee did some adjustments in the budget to make it conform to directives issued by the Controller of Budget.
He noted that in the 2018/2019 county budget, Controller of Budget pointed out anomalies in the budget forcing the committee to make adjustments on the expenditure.
In a letter dated October 26, this year, the Chairperson said Controller of Budget pointed out legal anomalies in the county budget.
“Mr. Speaker some of the anomalies pointed out by controller of Budget include allocation of Sh. 25 million under department of Education and technical training, a function which falls under national government”, he added.
Kibe continued, “Controller of Budget also faulted overestimation of own source of revenue to a tune of Sh. 1 billion which is unrealistic based on historical performance.”
Other anomalies raised include deviations of departmental allocation from approved county fiscal strategy paper and inclusion of recurrent items in the development budget.
“Mr. Speaker as a committee for budget we recommend that development expenditure be given priority over recurrent budget in order to achieve a more sustainable growth”, added Kibe.
Kimorori MCA Amos Murigi standing on a point of order said the county Treasury had failed to provide itemized budget so as to elaborate programmes to be implemented.
Murigi wondered why the governorship got increased funds saying there are other areas which are of priority and in need of funds.
He said the county creameries plant should be fast tracked so as to benefit local dairy farmers.
By Bernard Munyao
