Malombe sought Members of County Assembly to have common landing ground as they work together in order to deliver the much needed services for the mwananchi
He faulted the previous administration headed by former Governor Kaluki Ngilu for embezzling public funds and not leaving behind tangible and visible development that can uplift people’s livelihoods
Malombe opined that, county’s wage bill has exceeded 35% legal requirement; Recurrent Budget of Kshs 8.398 Billion (Which represents sixty eight percent – 68% of the total resource envelope)
Kitui Governor Dr Julius Malombe has sought the county assembly members to support each other in realization of the much needed services by the citizens
Speaking on Tuesday 11th October, at Kitui County Assembly during the opening of the third county assembly, Malombe told members of county assembly to have common landing ground for betterment of the people
“I look forward to a harmonious and productive working relationship between the County Executive and the County Assembly that will deliver development and prosperity to our people. Working together, we have the ability and capacity to unlock the unexploited huge potential of our great County.
Indeed, most of you in this Chamber have, just like me, walked this political journey to get to where we are today”. Governor Dr Julius Malombe in his opening of the assembly speech.
Malombe regretted that, in the last five years, there has been no tangible and visible development has been undertaken to meaningfully uplift people’s livelihoods.
“We have inherited a sad state of affairs. Hospitals had no drugs. Pending bills including legal liabilities had been allowed to accumulate to unsustainable levels. Staff salaries delayed, sometimes in excess of a month or beyond. Skewed and inequitable development where some county wards never had any meaningful projects undertaken for the last five years, denial of graders and other machinery for road works, agricultural and water works.”. — Governor Dr Malombe at the Assembly opening speech.
He said that the wage bill has exceeded the 35% legal requirement specified under the Public and Finance Management Act 2012.
Not mincing his words, the Governor noted there has been corruption allegations publicly levelled against county staff, including the County Public Service Board thus diminishing the county’s credibility, image and bankability.
“In a nutshell, we are inheriting a county that is in dire straits and whose public reputation and financial status is at an all-time low.
As they say, the ball is right in our court as leaders. We have to devise ways of addressing the inherent challenges and turn around the fortunes of our county and her people”. — Governor Dr Julius Malombe emphasises to MCAs.
He told Kitui people and kenyans that the County’s overall resource envelope stands at Kshs 12.379 Billion_This comprises of Development budget amounting to Kshs 3.981 Billion (Which represents thirty two per cent –32% of the total resource envelope) and Recurrent Budget of Kshs 8.398 Billion (Which represents sixty eight percent – 68% of the total resource envelope). Further, the recurrent budget contains Personnel Emoluments of Kshs 4.890 Billion (which represents forty per cent 40% of the total resource envelope) and Operations & Maintenance budget of Kshs 3.508 Billion (Which represents twenty eight per cent -28% of the total resource envelope). In addition, the total revenue budget.”. — Governor Dr Julius Malombe at the assembly opening speech today.
“Currently, the County does not have any existing loans and/or overdrafts. However, the County has pending bills amounting to Kshs 2.445 Billion. Mr. Speaker and Honourable Members, this amount has been budgeted for in the Supplementary Budget (I) that we will be submitting to the County Assembly soon. These pending bills shall form the first charge of the County budget FY 2022/2023 as stipulated under Regulation 41 of the PFMA, 2015 (Counties). Details of the said pending bills have been captured in the Assumption of the Office of the Governor Committee Report that will also be submitted to the County Assembly by the Chairman of the Committee”. — Governor Dr Malombe at the assembly opening speech today.
He further said that cognizant of the fact that kitui county is water insecure and is among the counties being ravaged by severe drought and famine, his administration is keen to alleviate that problem.
“Towards this, we are going to put up one mega dam in each sub county, two large dams in each ward, one medium dam in each village and Boreholes in strategic points in each ward/Village.
We also plan to construct 60 sand dams across the entire county”. — Governor Dr Malombe closed the official opening of the third county assembly with those powerful plans.