Oparanya under fire over Ksh.269M for Linda Afya ya Mama na Mtoto program

Oparanya under fire over Ksh.269M for Linda Afya ya Mama na Mtoto program

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya was put to task to defend the viability of his pet program Linda Afya ya Mama na Mtoto that aims to provide financial support to mothers and their children after delivery.

This is after the office of the Auditor General queried why 30,000 mothers who had been identified during the 2017/2018 financial year had not had been paid Ksh. 269million.

Oparanya however told the Senate Public Accounts and Investment Committee that the mothers have since been paid.

The mothers are supposed to receive Ksh. 2000 every three months until the baby is one and a half years old.

Oparanya insisted that the sustainability of the program has been taken care of since the county assembly passed a law that would require 3% of health budget of the county to go to the program.

“We had some issues during that time and we have redesigned the program, we have actually said that the program can only take care of two kids, if a mother wants more, then she will have to take of them,” Oparanya said.

The Senators however criticized the late disbursements of the funds questioning how this would help in fighting malnutrition and high mortality rate in the county.

“The program is good, but late disbursements doesn’t help addressing the primary issue, this is actually misappropriation of funds,” said Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala.

Oparanya was also put to task to explain why he allocated 10million more to the county assembly contrary to the Public Finance Management Act.

The Assembly was to receive Ksh. 883million, but the county executive allocated Ksh.10million more.

Oparanya admitted that he allocated the money due to late disbursements from the National Government to help pay salaries at the County Assembly.

After Oparanya’s session, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu will be appearing before the Sam Ongeri-led committee on Friday.

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Oparanya linda afya ya mama na mtoto

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