February 23, 2024 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
The County Government through the Department of Finance and Economic Planning will today complete a two-day county-wide public participation exercise on the County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP) for the FY’2024/2025.
The exercise is taking place across all the sub-counties of Turkana County including Turkana North, Kibish, Turkana West, Turkana Central, Loima, Turkana South, Turkana East, Lokichoggio, Lokiriama, Aroo, and Suguta.
The CFSP outlines the county’s policy goals and strategic priorities that will underpin the formulation of the County’s 2024/2025 fiscal year budget and medium-term projections.
The Strategy Paper stands as a cornerstone in the budgetary framework outlining performance evaluation priority areas, financial projections, and expenditure ceilings.
The participation of the members of public in the exercise is instrumental in the county’s budget calendar setting precedence for key projects to be implemented in all the sub-counties.
This is according to section 117 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) 2012 which mandates the County Treasury to prepare the CFSP for submission to the County Assembly by the 28th of February every year.
Similarly, Section 117 (3-8) provides necessary processes and guidelines that include public participation requirements in the preparation of CFSP.
Speaking during the exercise in Kakuma, Director of Budget, Nicholas Mayo, stated that the input retrieved touched on all sectors of the economy. He urged the residents to follow up on the implementation of the development projects once implementation commences, as a bid to weed out contractors with intentions of doing shoddy work.
Assistant Director for Monitoring and Evaluation, Mike Ekwang’a while spearheading the exercise in Kainuk, Aroo Sub-County, with participants drawn from Lobokat, Katilu, and Kaputir Wards, highlighted that the CFSP includes budget estimates totaling sh. 13 billion for the upcoming financial year, focusing on the County Government’s nine-point development agenda.
He stated that the budget estimates will be funded through both the annual budget revenue allocation from the National Government and internally generated source revenue.
Ekwang’a also assured the public that their feedback will be incorporated into the document before it is submitted to the County Assembly of Turkana for further deliberations and approval.
In Kakuma, the county officials present included; Mzungu Richard (Deputy Director, ICT and E-government), Ekutan Vincent (Senior Economist), M&E Officer, Village and ward Administrators, and members of the planning team. Deputy Director for Sports who is also Turkana Professional Association Chairperson Jackson Nakusa was present.
Overall, the exercise included the involvement of the members of the public, civil society organisations, special interest groups and professionals, Directors, Deputy Directors, and other county government officials.
