Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago’s administration has allocated Sh40 million for transition and assumption of office expenses after the polls.
The money will be spent mostly on ceremonies and activities to bid farewell to Mandago and welcome the new governor.
New MCAs will also benefit after the county allocated Sh100 million for their car grants and mortgages.
Details of the allocations are contained in the county budget estimates for 2022-23, which were presented at the assembly by Finance executive Samwel Yego.
“All these will ensure smooth transition from the current administration to the incoming one,” Yego said.
Three candidates are battling to succeed Mandago. They are UDA’s Jonathan Bii, businessman Bundotich Kiprop Buzeki, who is vying as an independent, and William Kirwa who is vying through UDM under the Azimio movement.
In the budget estimates, Yego said the county had allocated Sh2.47 billion for development, Sh286 million for recurrent expenses and Sh387 million for capital expenditure.
That includes Sh241 for construction of ward offices and Sh27 million for purchase of communication equipment.
He said the county would still give priority to development programmes.
“We are focused on delivering better infrastructure. We need to invest more because what we have done is not enough," Yego said.
He said Sh1.96 billion had been set aside for the roads sector; Sh690 million is for recurrent expenditure, while 1.3 billion will go for development of new infrastructure projects.
The county allocated Sh10 million for improved street lighting in Eldoret and other urban areas to improve safety and improve the business environment.
Yego said Sh279 million has been allocated to the water sector, especially improving access in rural areas.
He said a Climate Change unit had been created to manage Sh125 million World Bank funding for local initiatives to mitigate climate change.
To promote tourism, Yego said Sh25 million has been set aside to improve tourism sites, including River Sosiani nature and amusement park, Chebororwa conservancy and the Chepslot Hills.
Agriculture, which employs 70 per cent of residents, will get Sh1.9 billion, with Sh627 million for recurrent expenditures and Sh1.2 billion for development.
Key investments planned in the agriculture sector include Sh7. 3 million for construction of cereal stores, Sh7.8 million for crop diversification and Sh5 million for crop disease control.
Another Sh7.3 million will go to livestock disease control, Sh5.7 million for AI services, Sh9 million for connecting electricity to milk cooling plants and Sh5 million for campaigns to increase milk production by small-scale farmers.
The Chebororwa farmer’s college has been allocated Sh10.7 million for expansion and irrigation activities. Sh30 million will be used for agriculture mechanisation and value addition machinery.
Yego said the county will also receive another Sh354 million for conservation agriculture under the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project.
(Edited by V. Graham)
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