Nairobi Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) will have to wait for at least one month to have their allowances paid.
Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Kennedy Ng'ondi on Tuesday announced that MCAs will have to wait until the Controller of Budget (CoB) releases the budget.
"It is not our fault that we are not able to facilitate members in good time. We are faced with challenges of what is happening across the country because there is no money to honor their services in good time," he said.
The Speaker revealed that the areas were amounting to Sh60 million.
Ngondi's address came after the MCA's failed to attend the Tuesday Plenary sitting asking him to explain why their allowances were accruing without any communication.
On Monday, a section of the MCAs had given an ultimatum of 24 hours for the payment to be made accusing that some members were receiving the allowances while others were not.
On Tuesday afternoon, the MCAs threatened not to attend plenary sittings until the pending bills are paid.
However, the Speaker assured that a work plan for the payment is currently being prepared by the executive and there have been no payments done since the closure of the last financial year.
“The work plans are normally developed by the executive, so it is not in isolation that you can decide which to approve and which one not to. The Assembly is not independent as we get money from the executive. The issue of some members being paid allowances and others not is neither here nor there and that is politics,” Ngondi said.
As a result, he urged MCAs to continue attending plenary sittings and stated that disciplinary actions will be taken on those that will fail to attend sittings as per the law and their sits declared vacant.
