A 2020/21 budget stalemate will be the next likely arena of a showdown between Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu and the Members of the County Assembly.
The Kitui County Assembly passed a Sh10.2 billion 2020/21 budget on June 30, but the county government cannot spend the money without the existence of an approved Appropriation Bill 2020, which is now in limbo.
Information about the budget stalemate and possible stalling of the financial and the development programmes of the county government came to the fore last weekend following a disclosure by the Kitui county assembly chairman of budget and appropriation committee Boniface Kilaa Kasina.
In a statement dated July 3, Kasina accused Finance executive Ben Katungi of failure to present the Appropriation Bill to the assembly for approval to unlock fiscal expenditure.
“Following the approval of the budget for 2020/2021, the assembly officially wrote to the CECM for Treasury to prepare the Kitui County Appropriation Bill as required of him by the PFM Act, which, until today, has not been received,” said Kisaina.
When we reached out to Katungi over the mater he was unwilling to discuss the matter into details.
