Migori County Assembly is considering passing the 8.9 B budget estimate for the 2022-2023 Financial Year.
Speaking at the County Chambers during the reading of the budget estimates Migori County Assembly Speaker George Duro said that the house will consider passing the county budget as per the Constitution of Kenya 2010 Article 185 Sub Article 4 and County Public Finance Management 2012 Section 13.
Duro said that they will be approving the budget estimates once the Appropriation Bill committee approvals the entire budget. The speaker noted that the County Assembly would go-ahead to adapt and pass the budget before the house is dissolved.
He noted that the approval of the Migori budget estimates would consider and ensure that every detail is scrutinised before its passage.
The budget allocated 69 percent of the total budget to the recurrent expenditure while 41 percent for set aside for the development. The major share of the budget was allocated to the health sector which accounted for 27 percent of the total budget, an equivalent of 2.4B
The Chair of the Budget and Appropriation Committee George Omamba said that the budget was well represented stating that the County Public Finance Management 2012 gives 70 percent as recurrent expenditure and 30 percent for development.
Omamba noted that the budget had a close budget of 120M to for issuing bursaries to the needy students. He noted that for the past three financial years the bursary allocation was not budgeted for denying able students the opportunity to benefit from the kitty.
He said that the committee will be giving the executive authority to incur expenditure by passing the appropriation bill.
“We will compare and check the figures in the Appropriation Bill and the figures that they have passed in the main budget to ascertain that all the necessary documents are included as required by the law before its passage said Omamba.
Omamba also noted that stalled projects had had fully been budgeted under the county revenue will be projected in the subsequent supplementary budget allocations. He noted Covid 19 hindered revenue collection while other sectors’ budgets were redirected to health to curb the spread of Covid 19.
The Chair Finance Committee Graham Kagali applauded the Budget and Appropriation committee for the allocation of the bursary. He noted that going forward the bursary should be reallocated and appropriated back to the subsequent budgets to safeguard the future of Migori children. He said that without education the county cannot move forward in terms of human resources and wealth generation.
Kagali appalled the Budget and appropriation committee for allocating 710 M to Ward Community Projects that will be speared head by the MCAs. He noted that earmarked ward projects will aim to improve the lives of the Migori residents at the lowest levels of administration.
Kagali called upon the Migori residents to participate in the July to August County Integrated plan (CIP) that will provide a socioeconomic road map for the next five years. He noted that the CIP will be conducted at ward levels to capture the needs of the residents.