By Alloys Musyoka
Kwale leaders have poked holes in the proposed 2025-2026 budget saying that it does not represent the face of the country as many stalled national projects are being left out of the budget proposal.
The 2025-2026 budget estimates of 4.3 trillion has been subjected to public participation by the parliament to enable Kenyans to give their views.
During the budget public participation at the Culture center in Kwale it emerged that Kwale county will get a 0.001 per cent development budget of Sh700 billion.
Also some of the proposals are a Sh100,000 project for correctional services in Kwale, allocation that angered Matuga MP Kassim Tandaza terming it as an insult to the people of Kwale.
To add salt into the issue the budget did not include major critical projects which have taken long to be completed including the Kwale- Kinango road tarmacking, Mwachande and Funzi bridge.
βAs Coast leaders we will meet and scrutinize the budget document further to ensure that our regions are given its fair share,β he said.
He threatened to mobilize Coast Parliamentary groups to boycott passing the budget in parliament if their views will not be included for the benefit of residents.
Through the Coast parliamentary group, Tandaza said that they will forward their proposals for consideration in ensuring Coast counties get their national cake share.
βIf our views will not be accommodated in the budget for the sake of our people, Coast MPs will not take part in passing the budget because we are few but we wonβt be part of the document. We will let those who have their regions given reasonable shares to support it,β he added.
He said that it was wrong for counties which are marginalized to continue being left out in the national budget which is critical for development.
His sentiments were echoed by Coast Parliamentary chair Danson Mwashako who said that they will be meeting to deliberate on the budget.
βFrom Monday we will be meeting all of us to discuss deeper about the budget document as part of public participation. We want to ensure that the Coast region, like other regions, gets their national cake fairly. This time round we have decided to give it the focus it deserves so that we can fight for our people,β he said in Kwale.
MP Ali Wario who led the parliamentary budget committee in Kwale said that citizenβs views will be considered in the final document.
Wario said that majority of Kwale residents during participation want road infrastructure, rescue center, electricity among others to be included in the budget.
