Speaker of the Machakos County Assembly, Florence Mwangangi has issued an ultimatum to Governor Alfred Mutua to appoint County Executive Committee members.
Ms Mwangangi said the assembly will now engage ‘the highest gear’ to ensure the county executive carries out its obligation in accordance with the law and the constitution.
Speaking during a media breakfast meeting at a Machakos hotel on Tuesday, Mwangangi maintained the executive arm of the county government was not properly constituted, a scenario she noted hinders effective service delivery to residents.
“The constitution is very clear that the authority of the executive of a county is to be exercised only through the county executive committee which comprises the governor, the deputy governor and executive officers appointed through the approval of the assembly. This has not been the case since the swearing in of MCAs on September 7th last year,” Mwangangi said.
Ms Mwangangi urged Dr Mutua to put in place measures to ensure new CECs are appointed before the next financial year 2018/2019.
“We call upon the governor to constitute the county executive committee as we approach the budgeting of 2018/19 fiscal year,” she added.
Last year, five CEC nominees appointed by Dr. Mutua were rejected by the assembly, forcing the governor to go back to the drawing board.
Mutua faulted the rejection of his nominees, accusing the assembly of being used by ‘some political forces’ to frustrate his administration.
The Speaker revealed that the Machakos County Assembly had passed several key motions outlawing sand harvesting, logging, and gambling.
“The assembly also approved the Finance Bill as well as 2017/18 supplementary budget which is itemized, and we expect the executive to implement the same to the latter,” Mwangangi said.
Mwangangi said the county has a huge potential of collecting additional revenue locally to supplement the annual equitable share released to the devolved unit by the government through the national treasury.
"The assembly is aware that if those resources are collected efficiently and used prudently, this county can go to great heights of development,” she said.