The tug of war and bad blood between Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu and MCAs is far from over persisting.
On Thursday Ngilu stormed out of a meeting with MCAs that she had convened at the Kitui Kefri Centre after they quarrelled over their demand that she set aside Sh40 million for development in each of the 40 wards.
A participant at the meeting said Ngilu got angry and left after MCAs rejected her offer of Sh20 million per ward. It would be factored into the current budget.
She told bodyguards to remove the county flags from her official car and she drove herself off.
“The MCAs would hear nothing of Ngilu’s insistence that she could not afford to allocate Sh40 million to each ward, "Deputy Majority leader Colleta Ivia told the Star.
"But we reminded her she had promised to factor in the sum during a number of kamukunjis we held with her. Defeated, she got worked up and left the meeting,” Ivia said
That afternoon, afternoon, offended MCAs passed a motion rejecting her recent appointment of former county commissioner Joshua Chepchieng as county secretary.
Passing the private motion by the Kauwi MCA Jane Mutua, the assembly nullified the appointment The MCAs resolved Chepchieng should be surcharged for money he could have earned before his annulled appointment.
The Kitui assembly also agreed to swiftly initiate a judicial review against Ngilu for what they called the irregular appointment of Chepchieng.
MCAs also barred the governor from irregularly hiring anyone.
Speaking after her aborted meeting with MCAs, Ngilu said on Saturday that the MCAs wanted her to punch above her weight by demanding her to allocate Sh40 million to each ward.
“We gave them the budget estimates for 2019-20 to approve but they rejected them because they are making an impossible demand ... Even the national government CDF gets two per cent, not such huge sums MCAs demand," the governor said.
She said giving in to MCAs demands would make county government operations and services grind to a halt.
She was speaking during the burial of teacher Jonathan Ngau who died from spear wounds inflicted on him by a Somali herder in Kitui South subcounty.
(Edited by V. Graham)
