Kisii County Governor Simba Arati says he cares little about low rankings placing him bottom on development score .
He says better days are yet to come as he moves to roll out major development programs across the county.
“It doesn’t bother me much for now but soon we are going to emerge the best overall,” Arati told journalists late Friday.
The County boss said already some work has begun and would soon reflect in the larger portfolio of what his administration was doing to improve livelihoods in the region.
“As i speak, much is still going on, we are doing roads, seemingly this quarter we may be among the best in ranking ,” he said.
The Governor spoke a day after the Controller of Budget report flagged the devolved for low absorbtion of money meant for development.
Only Sh 159 m of the Sh 3.5 billion extended to Kisii was put into projects.
Kisii is among counties that have recorded low rates of development in two years with concerns of low absorbtion of cash by the governor cited as a factor.
According to Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, Kisii spends the least on development, consuming only 2.9% of its budget, followed by Nairobi (3.3%) and Machakos (3.5%).
Others are Taita Taveta (4.4%), Samburu (5.2%), Nyeri (6.4%), and Baringo (5.8%).
Narok, Bomet, Uasin Gishu, Laikipia and Marsabit counties had the highest absorption rates of their respective approved development budgets at 52.4%, 27.1%, 27%, 22.5%, and 21.7% respectively.
On Friday, Arati said it little bothers him whether he performs to the expectations of those who do the ranking.
Much of the efforts, he said, had initially been directed towards in putting things right.
“Already we have scaled up collection of revenue at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital, health care is one of its best now and the efforts are bearing fruits especially in reducing marternal deaths,” Arati told journalists shortly after meeting a faction of health care staff who said they would not participate in the nationwide strike called Money by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union officials.
The health officials said they are not part to the planners of the impending industrial strike.
They said they would instead report to their various work stations .
“We have met the governor held discussion and many of the issues of contention have since been addressed,” said Fred Oigo who represented nurses.
Governor Simba Arati said health service delivery will go on as usual.
“I am happy with deliberations and we urge our people to visit our health facilities for medication,” said Arati.
Ends