The Busia County Assembly has passed the
2019/2020 Sh9.2 billion budget after 12 hours of pull and push.
Members adopted the
Supplementary Budget estimates
after Speaker Bernard Wamalwa put the question to vote at 8.45pm on Tuesday.
Wamalwa directed the county treasury to submit a report to the assembly on omitted projects and pending bills and how they will be addressed.
Members, among them Bernard Papa, Kassaman Ekesa, Abiud Ochilangole and Gardy Jakaa urged the house to factor in
at least two per cent of the development budget for disaster preparedness in subsequent budgets.
The budget is Sh2.17 billion more than Sh7 billion for the previous financial year. Some Sh5.3 billion (58.5%) is for recurrent expenditure and the rest for development.
Some 439 Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers who had been hired on contract in 2017 are major beneficiaries after it was resolved to hire them on permanent and pensionable basis.
Education committee chairperson Novena Ndaliro thanked the budget committee for factoring in Sh54 million to pay the first batch of ECDE teachers on P and P basis.
Rollover projects and pending bills were prioritised in the budget. Funds for the purchase of drugs were increased from Sh137 million in the last financial year to Sh202 million.
A total of Sh875 million inclusive of bursaries is for ward development projects.
