Mandera County court rejects freeze on supplementary budget

The court was informed that a freeze order last month subjected residents to hardship and allowed the county government to use funds approved in the supplementary budget in February.

A bench of three judges said that the freeze would cripple operations in the county, as over 3,900 workers would not be paid until September.

The court was informed that medical drugs would be provided to health facilities and provision of emergency water to drought-affected sub-counties.

In May, the freeze was issued after a resident complained that there was no public participation and millions had been allocated for services preserved for the national government.

As earlier noted, neither of the parties stand to gain by the conservatory orders, since this would in effect result in the money relating to the Supplementary Budget being returned to the Treasury when a significant part of it would be used for the greater benefit of the applicants in service of their employees, suppliers and the residents of Mandera County, and would otherwise be subject to hardship, judges Daniel Musinga, Agnes Murgor and Fatuma Sichale said.

The freeze could lead to the collapse of services because the county government would not be able to pay bills, whether development or recurrent, and at the end of the financial year, the money will be returned to the Treasury.

The county government said it needed money to provide water to residents and to provide relief to help them from the ravages of drought.

The county allocated Sh 2.5 million for the renovation and painting of five classrooms at Dikduro Primary School, despite the lack of public participation, according to Mr Abdullahi.

He also named the development of a playground at Dololo Primary School in Sh 2 million, the construction of a playground at Kubi Hill Primary School in Sh 400,000 and an ECD classroom and twin toilets at Ayan Primary School in Takaba South at Sh 1.5 million.

He said that the applicants' actions were a violation of the constitutional dictates because of the unilateral allocation of funding for projects that are the preserve of the national government.

The county executive for finance Sulekha Harun said the residents of the seven sub-counties made contributions to the budgetary estimates and the county treasury took into account the development estimates and recurrent expenditure in the process.

The judges said that the conservatory orders in our view should be stayed in the interest of the public.