Kericho MCAs to spend over KES 4M at Ruto’s Weston Hotel for 4 days. Is this the new state capture , here is the full story..
Kericho County Assembly is in the spotlight after legislators defied austerity measures ordered by Ruto as they got a nod to proceed with a five-day training session on how to vet the nominees for the Chief Officers position.
It’s interesting to note that Dr. Patrick Mutai, speaker of the parliament, approved the training to be held at the President’s Weston hotel in Nairobi, which will cost the MCAs more than Sh2.1 million in allowances.
On Tuesday, Dr. Mutai gave his approval to a memo from the troubled Majority leader, Paul Chirchir, asking for the 37 MCAs in the house to be allowed to participate.
“About standing order No.177, I hereby request for facilitation of all members of the county assembly to Nairobi (Weston hotel) from 15th November 22 to 20th November 22. The purpose of the meeting is to conduct a pre-vetting of County Chief Officers nominees” Mr. Chirchir stated in the memo.
Dr. Mutai, a former County Executive Committee (CEC) in charge of Finance at the Kericho County Assembly marked the document for the house’s clerk as “approved” and signed it on November 15 (Tuesday).
The same day the request was approved when the MCAs were supposed to check in at Weston hotel, what has kicked up a storm over austerity measures put in place by Dr. Ruto’s administration over the poor state of the economy.
Dr. Ruto directed shortly after taking over from former President Uhuru that the government would save Sh300 billion from cost-cutting measures to be applied by all government departments.
Wakenyaleo.co. has established that an MCA is entitled to an Sh14,000 night out, in Nairobi while the Speaker draws Sh16,800. The same amount applies per day when they travel to Naivasha, Kisumu, and Mombasa.
The MCAs would effectively receive Sh2,139,200 from the assembly funds after the speaker added Sh67,200 for the four nights they will spend in Nairobi. In total, the MCAs would draw Sh2.072 million from the assembly coffers.
This does not include the expenses the county assembly would pay for the committee clerks, drivers, and another cadre of personnel to accompany the MCAs to Nairobi for the training.
However, the expense of hiring a hall at a luxury hotel, paying for food and beverages, and fuel for moving vehicles has not been included in the figure tallied in this article.
“Majority of the MCAs who were elected or nominated to the assembly are serving their first term in office and are yet to learn the ropes of vetting the nominees for the various positions forwarded to the house by the executive arm of government,” Mr. Chirchir told the Nation on Wednesday on the telephone.
Mr. Chirchir, who is the Kapsoit MCA, said the lack of knowledge on the various issues came to the fore during the recent vetting of the CECs, which the training that has been organized seeks to cure.
Mr. Chirchir, who is the Kapsoit MCA, said the lack of knowledge on the various issues came to the fore during the recent vetting of the CECs, which the training that has been organized seeks to cure.
But the matter has caused a major political uproar in the region and reverberates nationally in what shows the lengths the MCAs go to get allowances from the assembly, which has no direct bearing on development.
“Why would the MCAs require training on how to vet the Chief Officers when they are fresh from subjecting the nominees for the County Executive Committee (CEC) members through the same process?” wondered Mr. Peter Mutai, a political analyst.
imwangi2019@mediawakenyagmail-com
