The Elgeyo Marakwet county assembly has told off Governor Alex Tolgos over demands to cut the Sh566 million allocated to the house.
Speaker Kiplagat Sabulei instead wants Tolgos to deal with ghost workers in his administration who, he said, take away money that could be used to bridge the Sh200 million budget deficit.
Sabulei said records indicated the county government had workers who are not in the list provided by the County Public Service Board, which means they are ghost workers.
Sabulei also faulted the governor for failing to utilize Sh1 billion in the last financial year while complaining of shortage of funds.
“The county government must manage the little they have in order to justify the need for increment,” Sabulei said.
The governor has declared a budget crisis after he differed with MCAs over reduced allocations to various departments outlined in an Appropriations Bill for 2019-2020.
The executive has recommended budget cuts for the county assembly and other departments to help bridge a budget deficit of Sh200 million but MCAs twice voted against the Appropriations Bill, leading to the stalemate.
Tolgos invited the Senate, Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Controller of Budget and members of the public to help resolve the row over the budget.
Tolgos said the deficits the county has include Sh70 million for staff salaries, Sh40 million for staff medical cover and another Sh89 million for replacement of critical staff occasioned by natural attrition and retirement.
But Sabulei said the assembly had conclusively dealt with the listed issues in a memorandum to the governor alongside the budget proposal.
Sabulei said the assembly had increased money for staff by three percent while money for medical insurance had not been factored in the original budget forwarded by the executive.
He said the county always receives money for staff replacement and at no time was the money withheld or reduced.
He said the assembly did not allocate itself resources but operated within financial ceilings of the CRA and that money allocated to the assembly included pay for 100 staff in the wards.
