Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has said his refusal to sign the 2020/2021 Appropriation Bill is purely based on law.
The governor has clarified that he is not against development but wants the budget process to be legitimate and not a punitive exercise targeting his administration.
Sonko called on the County Assembly to review allocations to the Education, Disaster, Inspectorate and Sports departments.
He questioned why the functions still being run by the County Government had their monies slashed against the already laid plans in the County Fiscal Strategy Paper for the 2020/21 financial year.
He wondered why the initial budget prepared with the input of the Finance department was ignored and last-minute changes made to it.
“The MCAs, through the Finance Budget and Appropriation Committee, had made a good document which we had all agreed on but unfortunately, some people came in with their own changes,” Sonko said.
He revealed that several sectors under his office have lost Sh1 billion.
Another Sh500 million was slashed from the Education department while allocations for Sports was tampered with as well.
“We will not be able to build more stadiums, more vocational training centers and our people will be affected,” Sonko said.
He called on the Assembly to consider the memorandum he sent to them with an open mind.
On the ongoing demolitions across the city, he said the government is right to undertake development programs but called for sobriety and soberness when evicting people.
He underlined the need to compensate and move people in a dignified manner without leaving them with no place to call home.
“The law that allows government to move people is the same law that calls for protection of human rights and demands that we compensate them,”
Sonko reiterated that he has immense respect for President Uhuru Kenyatta and the NMS but called for respect to the rule of law.
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