NAIROBI, Kenya- National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has issued a stern warning to Members of Parliament (MPs), reminding them that they are public trustees, not self-serving politicians.
In a passionate address to the House, Wetang’ula emphasized the principles of fairness, justice, and equity in resource allocation, cautioning parliamentary committees against prioritizing personal or constituency or regional interests over the nation’s collective welfare.
“The essence of our Constitution is equity, fairness, and justice. Those privileged to serve in committees must remember that they represent the country, not just themselves,” he stated.
Wetang’ula’s remarks were in response to a concern raised by Emuhaya Member of Parliament Hon. Omboko Milemba over the sidelining of certain counties that had been lined up to carry out public participation run by the budget and appropriations committee.
“In last years public participation Vihiga among other counties had their chance for public participation, it was insinuated that this public participation will continue and all the counties would benefit, but following what happened in the budget committee and possibly why we have changed the leadership, which misused the clause of public participation and actually abused it by increasing the funds allocated from 2billion to over 10billion,” decried Milemba.
The sentiments pointing an accusing finger at some members of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, seemingly accused of disproportionately allocating funds to their own constituencies while neglecting others.
Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah and his Minority counterpart Junet Mohamed in perfect display of their new found working relationship cemented by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by President William Ruto and ODM Leader Raila Odinga both condemned what they described as an “immoral and unethical” misuse of lucrative parliamentary committee positions to distribute resources unfairly.
“It is unacceptable that a county meant to benefit from public participation received only Ksh 10 million for a national polytechnic, while another, where a Budget Committee member sits, secured Ksh 250 million for a similar institution,” Ichung’wah lamented.
Junet Mohamed echoed similar sentiments, accusing committee members of skewing allocations in favor of their home regions, leading to a troubling trend where MPs now “benchmark” in well-funded constituencies.
“Let’s be honest with Kenyans. We have members sitting in influential positions, chairing powerful committees, and using them to unfairly direct resources to their own constituencies,” Junet stated.
Jeremiah Omboko Milemba, MP for Emuhaya, voiced frustration over how public participation funds were handled, citing Vihiga County as one of the casualties of the flawed process.
“During budget-making, the Budget Committee typically visits around five counties for public participation, with each county allocated about Ksh 2 billion. However, this session saw 21 counties benefit,” Milemba noted.
He revealed that while Vihiga had its turn last year, a leadership crisis in the Budget Committee led to the misuse of public participation provisions, inflating the allocation from Ksh 2 billion to hundreds of billions.
“A 100% guillotine was placed on public participation, denying Vihiga and other counties their rightful share. Suddenly, some constituencies were receiving up to Ksh 1 billion under the guise of public participation. That was not what the Constitution intended,” he asserted.
Milemba urged the committee currently reviewing the budget to reinstate funds that were genuinely allocated for public participation and warned against committee leadership using their positions for self-gain.
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