Some Kirinyaga ward representatives are now pushing for the dissolution of the county.
The assembly members, who are opposed to Governor Anne Waiguru’s leadership style, say they will not relent until the county is disbanded.
Led by Majority Leader Kamau Murango, the reps said the devolved unit has become ungovernable and its leadership must go.
Mr Murango said they have started collecting signatures from residents to send the governor home. “We want to collect more than 30,000 signatures to dissolve the government. The process has started and there will be no retreat,” he said.
SABOTAGE
The ward reps spoke a day after Ms Waiguru accused them of plotting to sabotage the operations of her government by altering the 2020/2021 budget.
Ms. Waiguru appealed to the Senate, the Controller of Budget, and the Jubilee leadership to intervene to save the county from grinding to a halt.
A majority of the MCAs fell out with the governor last year and have been placing hurdles in every move she makes.
Recently, the reps impeached Ms. Waiguru but she was saved by the Senate
Undeterred, they have challenged the Senate’s decision at the Kerugoya High Court.
However, Ms. Waiguru is challenging the MCAs to put the interests of the residents first.
“The county executive presented the Financial Year 2020/2021 proposed budget to the assembly for approval. Instead of approving the budget, the assembly submitted a completely new budget with a variation of over 30 percent per vote, going against Regulation 37(1) of the Public Finance (County Government) Regulations 2015, which limits the assembly variations to one percent of the ceilings,” she said.
Ms. Waiguru also accused the assembly of allocating Sh300 million meant to pay salaries for health workers to the construction of ward offices. “This is completely unacceptable given that the health workers have put their lives on the line in the battle against Covid-19,” she said in a statement.
However, the MCAs are accusing the governor of trying to meddle in their oversight role. “If we feel the budget is not favorable to residents, then we have to alter it,” said Mr. David Mathenge, the Budget Committee chairman.
Briefing the press in Sagana town Tuesday, the MCAs dismissed as untrue claims by the governor that they had removed Sh300 million for the Health sector.
“The money for the Health sector is intact as factored in the budget. The governor should stop misleading the public,” Mr. Mathenge said.