The General Manager of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), Franklin Ngoni Ikome Njie has debunked rumors circulating he is selling CDC land. Mr Ngoni said it is impossible to sell CDC land.
‘I don’t think it is possible for anyone to sell CDC land legally. Selling CDC land being it by the General Manager or whosoever, means that person must navigate on illegality. CDC land is a private state land on long-term lease to CDC be it in Fako Division or Moungo Division. No one can claim ownership of a parcel legally. Any individual activity on any of the lands is encroachment or illegality.’ Franklin Ngoni Ikome Njie, CDC General Manager explained.
The GM responded to this question following a new encroachment of close to four (4) hectares of land at the CDC palm plantation in Ombe by yet-to-be-identified individuals. As a result, about 500 palm trees ready to boost production were bulldozed.
‘Going by our findings, 3.9 is close to 4 hectares of land that has been encroached. According to a CDC estimate,
about 500 palm trees planted in 2015 have been destroyed. This means a lot to us because the trees are our capital. Our objective is to boost production and revive the CDC. This destruction is a big blow’. The CDC boss said.
The CDC General Manager said that he has filed a report to the Gendarmerie officials who are currently investigating the perpetrators and have them punished accordingly based on the roles each of them played whether they are from outside or inside the CDC.
Any CDC worker’s involvement he promised will not go unpunished.
Source: Cameroon News Agency
Kiambu County has managed to raised Sh517 million in own-source revenue during the first quarter for the financial year 2023-2024.
This is Sh261 million more compared to the previous fiscal year of 2022-2023 in which the devolved unit raised Sh301 million.
According to the County Government Budget Implementation Review Report from the Controller of Budget, Kiambu County has so far generated in this financial year a total of Sh830.53 million from its Own Source Revenue (OSR) which includes Facility Improvement Fund (FIF) and Appropriations in Aid (AIA).
The CoB report shows that revenue streams which contributed the OSR came from liquor licenses, Sh62.23 million, Public Health Services, Sh30.43 million, Public Health Operations, Sh313.12 million, Technical Service Fee Sh170.12 million, Vehicle Parking Fee Sh79.31 million and other sources at Sh175.32 million.
‘The highest revenue stream was Sh313.12 million the public health facilities, contributing to 38 percent of the total OSR receipts during the report
ing period,’ Dr Nyakang’o said in the report.
The total funds available for budget implementation for Kiambu County during the period thus amount to Sh4.43 billion.
At the same time, the report further says at the beginning of FY 2023-2024, the County reported a stock of pending bills amounting to Sh5.79 billion, comprising Sh3.48 billion for recurrent expenditure and Sh2.31 billion for development activities.
The pending bills in the first quarter amounting to Sh168.74 million were settled, consisting of Sh94.64 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh74.10 million for development programmes. As of 30 September 2023, the outstanding amount was Sh5.62 billion.
Additionally, the Controller of Budget in the report mentioned some of the challenges that hampered the implementation of the Budget namely underperformance, high level of pending bills, use of manual payroll and failure to budget cash balance brought forward.
‘The county has some challenges like the underperformance of own-source revenue at Sh830.
53 million against an annual projection of Sh7.98 billion, representing 10.4 percent of the annual target,’ she said in the report.
The Controller of Budget further stated that the County failed to budget for the cash balance brought forward from FY 2022/23 of Sh2.55 billion in the approved estimates for FY 2023/2024.
As for the manual payroll, Dr Nyakang’o explained that this is prone to abuse and may lead to the loss of public funds where there is a lack of proper controls.
She urged Kiambu County to address its own source revenue performance to ensure the approved budget is fully financed.
‘Let the county leadership address the pending bills situation to ensure genuine bills are paid promptly in the remaining financial year,’ she said.
Source: Kenya News Agency