24 Migori MCAs off to Mwanza to discuss top-up budget
TUESDAY DECEMBER 20 2016
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Migori governor Okoth Obado. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Migori Governor Okoth Obado. The trip is said to have been funded by the executive arm of the county that he heads. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
In Summary
The county will spend at least Sh2.4 million on the trip.
The Budget Committee has 16 members and the additional are said to have been included in the trip for unclear reasons.
Some of their colleagues have described this trip as “reckless waste of public funds.”
By ELISHA OTIENO
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Twenty-four Migori MCAs have retreated to Mwanza, Tanzania, to discuss they county's supplementary budget, a move that has been criticised by residents.
The members, mostly from the County Assembly’s Budget Committee, left on Monday and are set to return on Friday.
They will each be paid at least Sh20,000 in subsistence allowance, meaning they will pocket a cool Sh100, 000 at the end of the trip.
It emerged on Tuesday that the trip had been funded by the executive, led by Governor Okoth Obado, in order to entice the MCAs into adopting the budget.
SH2.4 MILLION
The county will spend at least Sh2.4 million on the trip.
The Budget Committee has 16 members and the additional eight are said to have been included in the trip for unclear reasons.
Some of their colleagues have described this trip as “reckless waste of public funds.”
“This is simply an outing which has nothing to do with public interest. What is so special in Mwanza that could not be done in Migori, Kisii or Kisumu?” posed Mr Richard Sollo, the North Kamagambo MCA.
The assembly was quick to clarify on Tuesday that the trip had not been financed from its coffers.
EXECUTIVES
“The trip has not been funded by the County Assembly but by the executive. The supplementary budget must be ready by February and this is why members needed a conducive environment,” said Mr Tom Opere, the assembly clerk.
He said Mwanza had been opted because “members needed full concentration, away from home where they could be disturbed by other people.”
An unknown number of executive members were expected to join the MCAs on Tuesday.
Mr Sollo, however, claimed the trip was just an early Christmas treat for his colleagues.
“The public should know that such foreign retreats rarely discuss issues affecting them. This is just another holiday trip,” he charged.
PER DIEM
It has almost become a tradition for most MCAs, MPs and senators to travel to posh hotels within and outside the country to write committee reports.
The argument has been based on “conducive environment” but the truth is that per diem rates outside the country are higher than rates within the country.
Some Migori residents accused the assembly members of pursuing personal interests at the expense of development.
“Most of them will lose their seats next year because they have decided to bury their heads in the sand,” said Mr Joachim Omollo, a retired civil servant.
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