By Enoch Wambua
BRAVO COUNTY ASSEMBLY OF KITUI
The 2018/2019 fiscal year has come to a close. It ushers in the third year in the second term of devolution. Soon the cows that were served through AI by the County Government of Kitui will be calving down.
The busy bees are hard at work collecting nectar to prepare honey in yet another hopefully transformative project by the same government. We are all waiting for the magical transformation of our beloved County into the promised land, Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But first things first.
Rejection of the supplementary budget by the CA of Kitui must be appreciated for what it is; a bold statement against raw theft of public resources.
The subsequent passage of the 2019/2020 budget with major amendments was yet another bold move in speaking truth to power. The Constitution and the principles of devolution do not envisage the role of any CA in our Republic to be rubber stamping skewed policy decisions or regularising gross violation of provisions of the PFM Act by County Executives.
On these two scores, the CA of Kitui struck the right cord and chose to be counted on the right side of history. I assure you the Executive will fight back.
They will hurl insults and issue threats in funerals and through social media platforms; that is their trademark… steal, insult and threaten. It’s all they can do.
The Assembly must now ask the hard questions: why is the Executive spending public money on capital investments without the enabling legislation? What happened to the projects (e.g. ECD classrooms, tarmac roads, and earth dams) budgeted for and approved in the 2018/2019 financial year?
What became of the Kitui County Investment Corporation Bill, 2018? The Ndengu rip off, the crusher, the garment godown and the collapsed health insurance scheme will DEFINITELY land many people in jail.
But because the EACC is either unwilling or unable to nail the thieves in the Executive arm of the County Government of Kitui, these cases must be taken up by other incorruptible authorities. To start with, we shall be asking a vocal Ambassador accredited to Kenya to help us trace the partner who donated CT Scan and assorted machines to Kitui County which were later sold to our county government for more than Sh150 million.
Who received the donation? And who sold the donated equipment to the County Government of Kitui? That is where we will start. Anyone who steals from poor and helpless patients must be resisted and cursed to the seventh generation.
Let us brace ourselves for very rocky times ahead. We must slay the dragon of blatant theft of public resources in Kitui County before it kills all of us.
I know where the catch is. The Executive will try to arm-twist the CA by denying them access to their exchequer through the Finance minister.
Not to worry; I will be moving to the floor of the Senate to pursue the enactment of legislation for complete financial autonomy of CAs from County Executives to ensure proper independence in the execution of oversight responsibilities.
The writer is kitui senator Hon Enoch Wambua
Disclaimer; The opinion expressed in the article is not necessary of the management of county diary but of the author.
