Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana told the Commission of Inquiry looking into the possible suspension of the county that Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) hired the services of a witch doctor to help resolve a budget stalemate in which the MCAs were demanding Sh1.4B.
The Governor told the commission currently holding its sitting in Wote town, that his refusal to grant the MCAs the money in the 2013/2014 financial year prompted them to bring the witchdoctor who was only identified as Mulika to have the budget passed without any squabbles.
“I was adamant that the money was a lot for the county assembly and when I refused to bulge they brought the witchdoctor to help them pass the budget easily,” said the Governor.
Kivutha said, the budget disputes in the last two years in row were occasioned by the MCAs unrealistic budgetary demands and accused them of wanting to derail development in the county.
“The MCAs do not have the people interests at heart. They just want more resources allocated to them at the expense of development,” he said.
The Governor told the Commission that the budget delays saw the County fail to receive development money from the national treasury on time leading to poor delivery of services and overall dismal performance on development.
He recounted to the Commission how time was lost when the two arms of the county government held high-level consultations with the controller of budget to have the budget stalemate resolved.
“We spend two days at the controller of budget trying to resolve the crisis because the budget had a deficit of Sh1B and therefore not implementable,” he said.
The Governor also castigated speaker Stephen Ngelu and refuted claims by the speaker that he declined to pick or return his calls.
“The Speaker publicly declared that he had deleted my number. How then does he claim that I don’t pick his calls when he doesn’t have my number?’’ he posed.
Kivutha ruled out any possibility of holding negotiations with the Speaker, only saying that the people of Makueni should be involved to help broker a truce.
“I will only sit down with the speaker and the residents of Makueni,” he said.
He also accused the County Assembly of nepotism saying that most employees on the legislative arm were relatives of the MCAs and the Speaker.
The hearing continues.
