The Elgeyo Marakwet county assembly has approved the first supplementary budget for the 2024/25 financial year, factoring in a reduction of Sh 46 million from the national treasury arising from the rejection of finance bill 2024.
Presenting the budget during a special sitting on Monday, the chair of finance committee Benjamin Cheptiony said all departments had reported a deficit in terms of personnel emoluments totaling to Sh76 million with the health department leading with a deficit of Sh 41 million.
To plug the hole, the chair told the house that they had been forced to use the development budget to finance recurrent expenditure with the assembly parting with Sh 60 million from different votes while each of the 20 wards will give Sh3 million from their development budget to fund the recurrent expenditure.
Cheptiony said the county had excelled in own source revenue, raising Sh7 million against a target of Sh300,000, noting the high potential, and therefore the need to further strengthen the department to raise more funds.
“The county will therefore purchase a vehicle for the department at a cost of Sh7 million to enhance the collection,” he said, adding that they had allocated Sh19.7 million for the acquisition of a revenue collection system from Safaricom.
The chair decried the reduction of the county assembly budget saying it would affect the oversight of development projects given that it was losing Sh15 million of the oversight vote.
The leader of majority Stephen Cheruiyot said the provision of Sh76 million to various departments would go towards the promotion of staff in all cadres.
“We hope that our striking medical personnel will now resume duties with the assurance of their promotion as we have already set aside funds for the same,” he said.
He added that the county will also hire interns who will be deployed to all the departments in addition to replacing 30 officers who have left the service.
Cheruiyot said while the county had been listed among those who spent nothing in development, residents would now witness implementation of development projects following the approval of the supplementary budget.
The assembly however failed to approve a request for salary increments in both the governor’s office and the public service management until a report on staff audit is finalized.
By Alice Wanjiru
