Members of Kisumu County Assembly plan to convene special sittings in the Assembly to fast-track crucial bills while on recess.
The MCAs say there are a number of pending bills necessary for kicking off development projects, which they have to debate and pass in the current financial year.
The representatives, who are currently on a trip to Uganda, say the Public Participation Bill, Public Information Bill and the Environment Management Bill had gone through some initial readings, and they would continue debate once they return.
Majority leader Samuel Ongow said they would use the special assemblies to debate and pass a supplementary budget following restrictions by newly imposed CRA ceiling that restricts county allocations.
The Assembly has been on recess since last Friday, and will reconvene on February 10 next year.
“Recess does not mean inactivity; we will have special sittings to continue house business that were planned for the current financial year,” said Ongow.
The MCAs are on a comprehensive educational tour, and all the various committee members are expected to contribute towards a joint report to be tabled in the Assembly upon their return.
“We all came together so that we would save on time when reporting and resources expended,” said Ongow.
He dismissed claims of misusing public funds, amidst fury over foreign trips by residents, who expressed an outcry by the public that the representatives had priorities wrong and that their ‘reckless expenditure was only for their benefits’.
Kisumu Residents Voice chairperson Audi Ogada said the uproar was justified, and threatened that he would marshal residents to go to court to have the county leaders compelled to account for the “increasing number of needless foreign trips whose fruits residents are yet to see.”