Governor H.E Dr Wycliffe Oparanya has directed that departments should ensure that ongoing development projects are completed.
Dr Oparanya said that no new project should be started by the departments until ongoing ones are completed.
He added that money should be put in the budget for the purpose so that whoever takes over from him should not be left to carry the burden of completing the projects.
Dr Oparanya made the remarks during a consultative meeting on the proposed medium term expenditure planning budget estimates for Financial Year 2022/23-2024/25 and second supplementary budget estimates for FY 2021/22.
He extended his appreciation to the Department of Finance and Economic Planning for consolidating the estimates of the budget from all the sectors for discussion. “Being an election year, a lot has to change.
As you are all aware, the 2022/23 budget is being prepared under a revised budget calendar that takes into account the preparations for the forthcoming General Elections and as such, we are expected to finalize this budget by end of March, earlier than the normal period of 30th of June as has always been every fiscal year,” said the Governor.
He noted that this is aimed at ensuring a smooth finalization of the budget devoid of any challenges emanating from the election as well as the approval processes by County Assemblies.
The Governor noted that the FY 2022/23 budget builds on the Government effort to mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This will be done by prioritizing implementation of programmes outlined in the Kakamega County Covid-19 Socio-Economic Re-Engineering Recovery Strategy and the 2022/2023 Annual Development Plan,” he said.
The Governor observed with concern that in the FY 2022/23, total revenue is projected to decrease by 3.1 percent when compared to current budget for FY 2021/22.
That is from Sh 16.4 Billion in FY 2021/22 to Sh 15.9 Billion in the FY 2022/23.
He explained that the decrease is attributed to the unmet own source revenue target and the High Court Ruling in 2020 on conditional allocations.
In the ruling, the conditional grants are now excluded from the Budget Policy Statement, 2022 affecting the aggregate amounts in the determination of total revenue.
The Governor once again reiterated that all pending bills must be cleared by Chief Officers before he vacates office.