Governor Jama, MP Dekow clash over national budget share

Garissa Township MP Mohamed Dekow has refuted Governor Nathif Jama’s claims that area legislators and the national government are doing very little in terms of development.

Dekow, who spoke in Garissa town when he launched NHIF medical cover  for 1,000 elderly people in his constituency, said that the 15 percent of the counties’ national share is based on the devolved functions and that the national government has the biggest functions including education, security, foreign affairs, and other functions which require more funding.

Speaking during the Jamhuri Day celebrations on Tuesday at Garissa Primary School grounds, Jama called out the area MPs for questioning the performance of his government and its development projects.

The governor said the MPs have not done anything for the citizens and thus lacked the moral authority to question him.

However, the Township MP said that although he doesn’t want to play the blame game, because every leader should know his responsibilities, he would not keep quiet when his constituents go without water and have limited access to basic services like health.

“The governor ought to know where the 85 per cent of the budget is being utilised. This money is going to our defense forces, our police and other security forces, education which is actually taking a sixth of the budget at Sh630 billion and other ministries,” Dekow said.

“The money is also going to Universal Health coverage, the construction of our roads, Equalization Fund, which is taking Sh10 billion this financial year with Sh800 million for Garissa county,” he added.

The MP further said that there are other special projects like the hunger safety net programme and Inua Jamii and that no one should say that the national government is not doing development projects.

“As the area MPs, we have lobbied for development projects for this county, which I think the governor has refused to appreciate. The construction of the Tana bridge is going to start in January. We have secured roads construction funding from the national government worth Sh172 million for this county,” he said.

“We want the governor to do his work and we are ready to support him as leader because at the end of the day we want our people to access services. We do not want conflicts and blame games so that there is no excuse for not delivering to his people,” he said.

At the centre of the differences is lack of water especially in Garissa town with River Tana just nearby, but the county government claims that the water supply was disrupted by the recent flash floods.