Kakamega County Assembly has passed a Sh 16.1billion budget for the 2021/2022 financial year. The county government has allocated Sh1.2 billion for development projects while the recurrent vote will receive Sh389.1 million.
In the estimates, the county government has set a target of Sh2.1 billion in its own-source revenue collection compared with Sh1.6 billion in the 2020/2021 revised budget. The development expenditure estimate is pegged at Sh7.3 billion, which translates to 45% of the overall county budget.
Sh 510million has been allocated for the completion of the County Teaching and Referral Hospital. Phase two and three of Bukhung stadium project will receive Sh 725.4million. Funds have been allocated for tarmacking several roads in the region to improve communication across the 12 sub-counties.
Petition
The roads include the 9.2km Bushiangala-Eregi-Lusiola stretch, which will be tarmacked at a cost of Sh130 million, while Sh100 million has been allocated for construction of a key tea factory in Shinyalu constituency. The Health Services docket has been allocated Sh13 billion for development while Sh3.5 billion will go into the recurrent vote.
The Kakamega chapter of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) had petitioned the county government to urgently review levies introduced in the Kakamega County Finance Act 2020. The new charges have been captured in the budget estimates for the 2021/2022 financial year. In their petition signed by the KNCCI chapter chairman Wycliffe Majengo and chief executive officer Victor Wakhu, the traders said: “We bring to your attention that many complaints have been raised by the business community as far as the implementation of the Act is concerned.
“The charging of the fire service fees at a flat rate was the biggest issue and the general feeling that the county government should have factored the effects of the Covis-19 pandemic in the disruption of supply chains when implementing these rates as currently charged,” said Mr. Wakhu
The KNCCI proposals recommend that charges of Sh2,500 on small businesses, which usually operate from temporary structures, should be removed
