Blame game and cold war stalls Baringo budget approval

Kabarnet

Thursday, August 10, 23

KNA by Benson Kelio

A section of leaders in Baringo County have engaged in a vicious tussle following a delayed budget making process likely to paralyze service delivery in the vast county.

The squabble accelerated when Governor Benjamin Cheboi declined to approve budget estimates for the 2023/2024 financial year due to some components which he claimed were left out of the process.

Governor Cheboi publicly acknowledged that there is a serious challenge with the budget resource but promised that his administration was willing to engage with Members of County Assembly (MCAs) to sort out the matter.

“Our budget is very tight and there are certain things that we would like to achieve but have not obtained sufficient budgets. However going forward in our supplementary, we are going to align it to the functions and commitments set so that it can be easily executed,” he said.

The county boss who spoke during the signing of performance contracts for County Executive Committee (CECs) at his Kabarnet office grounds noted that the excluded projects are crucial to realization of his transformative agenda and manifesto.

The County Assembly Chairperson for Budget and Appropriation committee Ernest Kibet said the process was moving on smoothly until when they encountered some emerging issues like a climate change project which if not factored in the budget, they are likely to lose its donor funding.

“We also had some scenarios from the governor about projects that needed attention which made the process to be repeated,” said Kibet during an exclusive interview with KNA.

However, Kibet who is the Kabarnet ward representative warned against further delay of the process which he said would affect timely procurement of services in the county.

He challenged the executive wing of the county government which he pointed out are the ones who occasioned the delays, to be precise when formulating their budget proposals in order to avoid similar predicament in future.

Kibet regretted that the delay would have a ripple effect on county employees who now have no option but to stay without salaries during this new financial year until the matter is sorted.

At the same time, he pointed out that critical projects like a new CT scan machine for Baringo county referral hospital which had been budgeted for would have to wait longer due to the standoff yet patients continued to be referred to Eldoret for treatment.

Courtesy ; K. N. A