Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has faulted Governor Fernandes Barasa's mode of distributing drugs to hospitals saying that each sub-county has different needs.
Speaking at the African Church of the Holy Spirit in Malava, on Sunday, Dr Khalwale hit out at the governor, saying that he knows how much money was channelled to the county through County Revenue Account towards the health sector.
He revealed that the county was allocated an additional allocation of Sh892 million to cater for the hospitals' needs.
"I have seen the governor moving around distributing drugs to various hospitals. The least each hospital is supposed to get is at least drugs worth Sh20 million each, with Lurambi and Malava hospital getting the largest share since it has a bigger population and gets more patients compared to the rest. Recently we differed about you wanting to give out Sh2 million as bursary ward fund, but I told you it was little, and I am happy you adjusted the figure to Sh4 million. My plea is for MCAs to use the funds prudently," said the senator.
Khalwale pointed out that his main problem was the additional allocation to hospitals. "I have seen the governor distributing medicine to hospitals but the figure very little. Kakamega county has 12 sub-counties, with Malava and Lurambi being the largest and must be getting Sh70 million and Sh120 million, respectively, while the rest get Sh20 million each, totalling to at least Sh390 million," he said.
He said that healthcare should be treated with caution and no funds should be mismanaged.
"We insist that the treatment of our people must be standard, and the issue of giving Sh2 million to S10 million is a drop in the ocean. Don't play with health since it involves the lives of the people. Where do you want to take the remaining money? You must be accountable for all the funds," he said.
The senator promised to push for counties to get more funds and urged governors to utilise the money well.
"Barasa is chairman of finance and you must do things according to the law. This push over revenue share and following the president will not help you as governors. You must read the Constitution, and the Senate is the only one going to unlock and decide how much is going to be allocated to governors since the Constitution gives us the powers," he said.
At the same time, he said that former President Uhuru Kenyatta should be stripped of his diplomatic mandate since he's still associating himself with Azimio camp.
"The former head of state's refusal to retire from politics and participate in Azimio activities is undermining the current government. The Presidential Retirement Act states that if you want to continue getting access to public funds after retire, you must get out of politics. If you continue with politics, you must stop getting the benefits. This is a tactic by the Azimio team to avoid paying tax, but the government will not relent on those avoiding to pay tax," Khalwale noted.
He noted that the economy is deteriorating because of poor strategies in education, corruption, tax evasion and bad politics.
