Brakes slammed on Ksh.4.5B car grant plan for MCAs

County Assembly Speakers and MCAs may have to wait a little longer for the implementation of the Ksh.4.5 billion car grant awarded to them by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Also Read: Car grant for 2224 MCAs across the country fuels national debate

This is after the Controller of Budget slammed the brakes on the directive saying there was no provision in law to implement it.

In a letter to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Dr. Margaret Nyakango also stated that some counties do not have the funds to make the payments.

With the car grant gift to the MCAs largely perceived as a sweetener to motivate them to approve the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) bill, the hurdle begs the question as to whether it will result in rebellion.

11 counties have so far approved the BBI Bill and proponents have termed next week as a decisive moment where more counties will be considering the proposal to amend the Constitution.

According to the Controller of Budget, she has received numerous requests from governors to authorize the car grant directive but there are four fundamental issues that must be resolved first.

She noted that some counties are faced with the difficulty of implementing the directive due to insufficient funds since most had only budgeted for a car loan facility and not a car grant while others had merged the car loan and the mortgage into one fund.

The Controller of Budget added that there is no legislation outlining the process of conversation of a car loan into a grant since the car loan facility had been created as a revolving fund.

She further stated that while reviewing the requests by governors, she noted that in some counties the Speakers and MCAs had not accessed the car loan facility.

In other cases, the car loan had been granted and fully paid while in others, the loan was borrowed and partially paid.

And in some counties, MCAs and Speakers accessed the loan from the joint car and mortgage fund catering for both county staff and MCAs.

Essentially, according to the controller of budget, the hurdle is how to effect the car grant since each county has its own unique challenges.