The Uasin Gishu County Assembly on Thursday voted against Governor Jackson Mandago's memorandum which declined to assent to the Equitable Ward Development Bill 2019.
This comes after the governor refused to assent the Bill and offered 15 per cent to the 30 wards instead of 40 per cent as the Bill had stated.
Jonathan Ng’etich, who is the Chairman of the Budget Committee said that the Executive arm of government was rewriting County Assembly Bills and offering too little which would not make any economic impact in the wards.
“The Bill clearly states that 40 per cent of the development money is taken to the wards and the memorandum says 15 per cent. That is where we will have a great variance,” he said.
“The Committee cannot allow anything less than 40 per cent of the development fund,” he added.
While seconding the motion, Langas MCA Francis Muya argued that the Bill should have been implemented in the first assembly, adding that it was way behind schedule.
Nominated MCA Mary Gorretti who supported the motion, noted that the Bill will enable women to receive development funds at the ward level, thus leading to women empowerment.
40 out of the 47 MCAs in the House voted to overturn the governor’s memorandum.
Speaker David Kiplagat noted that the Bill will be returned to the county boss for assent, adding that that according to the County Government Act, it will automatically become law after seven days.