Tolgos and MCAs reach deal to unlock budget stand-off

Governor Alex Tolgos (pictured) and MCAs have struck an agreement that will pave way for the release of county funds from the Treasury.

Mr Tolgos and the MCAs had been locked in an impasse that saw Tolgos refuse to assent to the Appropriations Bill, 2019, therefore barring the implementation of the 2019-20 budget.

The governor had demanded that the MCAs slash Sh199 million from the assembly’s budget and direct it to the county staff costs.

Tolgos said he declined to sign the Appropriations Bill because there was no adequate provision for staff medical insurance.

He said the cost of the medical scheme had been provided for in the submitted 2019-20 County Fiscal Strategy Paper, but the county Assembly refused to approve it.

The Appropriations Bill allows the county to spend Sh5.7 billion in the 2019-20 financial year.

Yesterday, mediation efforts led by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and the Controller of Budget (CoB) saw Tolgos agree to assent to the Bill.

The impasse was unlocked after both parties agreed to the formation of a technical committee that will rationalise the budgets of the two arms of the county government - the Executive and the Assembly.

“The technical committee will review and rationalise the budgets of the county assembly and the county executive with a view to bridging the deficit in the county executive’s recurrent budget,” read a statement from CRA.

The statement also noted that in the meantime, the County Finance Executive and the Assembly Clerk will agree on how the balance brought forward from the 2018-19 financial year, will be used to pay salaries and other allowances.

Parliament’s bills 

It was also agreed that once the Division of Revenue Act and the County Allocation Revenue Act are passed by parliament, any additional funds that Elgeyo Marakwet will get will go into its Executive arm’s budget.

During the negotiations, CRA and CoB were represented by Jane Kiringai and Waweru Tuti respectively.

The county executive was represented by Tolgos, his deputy Wisely Rotich, Finance Executive Isaac Kamar and his education counterpart Edwin Kisang.

The assembly was represented by clerk Jane Mutai, deputy speaker Christopher Chemosong and MCAs Nathan Chelanga, John Yator and Paul Kipyatich.

Promote dialogue

Tolgos yesterday hailed the mediation effort as a success, expressing confidence that the county executive will get funds for hiring new staff. 

“We are eager to resume development projects. We should all support the technical team as it resolves the issues at hand,” said Tolgos. 

Speaker Philemon Sabulei was also supportive of the mediation team. “This successful mediation shows that dialogue that is devoid of emotional outbursts is the way to achieving solutions to our problems,” said Mr Sabulei.

He averred that the assembly, will continue to promote dialogue on all issues touching on the county development agenda.

The budget stand-off had led Tolgos to accuse the assembly of working with Senator Kipchumba Murkomen to undermine his administration.