Webuye municipal council’s financial crisis worsening

Written by Rosemary Wachiye 2011-11-09 19:14:00 Read 471 Times

Webuye Municipal Council Mayor Mr. Ali Machani. [Photo|Rosemary Wachiye|West Fm] The Webuye Municipal council is still in a financial crisis as it has not received allocation of the Local Authority Trust Fund (LATF) three times that is meant to fund the council’s projects. According to the Webuye municipal council mayor Ali Machani, more than 36 projects have stalled following the councils’ failure to qualify to get the LATF fund as it owed the government approximately Sh.50 Million that was statutory deductions for the workers’ welfare. “In each financial year, each of the twelve wards in the council has funds set aside to fund three projects in its region which accumulates to 36 projects that have been pending since we missed to get the LATF fund,” said Machani. Machani has stated that for a long time the council among other councils failed to remit the funds to the government even after deducting from the worker’s pay for that purpose, something that led to the Ministry of Local Authority passing a law that every Council was to clear the debt arrears before receiving the LATF funds. “The council owes the government Sh.50Million and that is why since the year 2009, the Municipal Council of Webuye has not received LATF funds in three disbursements and this has led to the standstill of some of the council’s set projects,” noted Machani. The mayor has also stated that at the moment the situation has led to the workers and councilors of the Municipal council working without pay for 6 Months and 4 Months respectively as the revenue collected from the council assets is not enough to settle all their dues. [Read: Webuye municipal council workers strike over 5 months salary http://westfm.co.ke/index-page-news-bid-2706.htm] “The council workers have not been paid arrears of their wages for the last 6 months similar to the councilors who have not been paid their allowance for the last 4 months as we don’t have enough revenue collection to facilitate their payment,” he said. He blamed the previous management for negligence which has contributed a lot to the financial problems facing the council leading to the council to miss out on Sh.29 Million of LATF in 2010 and another Sh.41 Million this year.  He also stated that Webuye Municipal council is among seven other councils in the country that had not qualified for the funding due to debts although it is the only council in Western province. He revealed that the other councils in the country had assets and managed to sell to pay off their debts something which could not be done in Webuye as the leaders in office then, did not do so on time. Machani also noted that the Webuye Municipal Council came in to being because of the existence of Pan Paper factory which he said after its collapse, the council plunged into financial challenges.  He also argued that the closure Pan Paper factory as being a major contributing factor to the low revenue collection in the council as Pan Paper used to annually contribute more than Sh. 2 Million to the council in form of revenue. “Since the closure of Pan Paper we have missed to receive revenue from the factory for close to three years now, the business in Webuye also went down hence a negative effect on the council’s revenue collections,” noted Machani. Machani has however, stated that as much as the Pan Paper factory has recently been reopened its not automatically that the financial problem  in the council will be resolved as the factory might take sometime before it gets back to its feet. He called upon the government through the Ministry of Local Authorities and the Ministry of Finance to come in handy and assist the Webuye Municipal Council to get the LATF funds and prevent it from collapsing. “I would like to call upon the Ministry of Local Authority to re-consider Webuye Municipal since we can not do without the LATF funds and still cannot be able to raise enough revenue to pay off our debts and pay the workers’ wages and the councilors’ allowances,” he appealed. Machani also called upon all well wishers and other developmental partners and companies to come in and help the council to settle the debts owed to the government in terms of statutory deductions and salvage the council from collapsing. “The council is in a mess, the workers who are innocent citizens are really suffering and paying for some other people’s mistake who were unproductive in office leading to the situation at hand, please assist us pay this debt facing us so that we can get the funding that will sustain the council and assist it carry out the set plans,” he appealed.