City Hall, NMS break stalemate on annual budget

Nairobi County has moved a step closer to reading its annual budget for the financial year ending June 30, 2021 after breaking a three-month-long stalemate.

The County Assembly had in July approved a Sh31.6 billion budget but the finalisation of the process was held back by the wrangles between City Hall and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) as well as revenue sharing formula standoff in the Senate.

However, the deadlock has now been resolved after the assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee reached an agreement between Nairobi County Government and NMS over sharing of the funds.

This is in addition to the Senate also breaking the revenue sharing formula impasse where, in the new formula, Nairobi will get an allocation of Sh19.2 billion as equitable revenue share.

This has now paved the way for Nairobi County Government, one of three out of the 47 counties yet to read their budget, to do so.

Appropriation Bill

Budget committee chairperson Robert Mbatia said they have reached a deal with both NMS and City Hall on sharing of the funds, paving the way for the tabling of the Appropriation Bill – a document that allows the expenditure of public resources – today for approval by the assembly.

He explained that for the committee to draft the bill, which should have been passed by June 30, 2020, Parliament needed to have passed the County Revenue Allocation Bill (CARA), a document which guides revenue sharing among counties.

In the case of Nairobi, there needed to be a clear understanding of how much money is to be allocated to City Hall and what goes to NMS for transferred functions.

“We will table the Appropriation Bill on Thursday (today) for approval after successful meetings between City Hall, NMS and the committee, separately and jointly, in order to iron out the finer details of the bill and to determine what funds will be allocated where, following the transfer of four county functions,” said Mr Mbatia.

Sharing resources

Mr Mbatia admitted that there has been a tussle between NMS and City Hall over the process. However, he said the two teams have been committed to the process, resulting in the finalisation of the budget document.

“It is normal to have a push and pull where people are sharing resources. One team might see the need for one thing while the other might not. NMS and the county executive met and agreed to go through this process together,” he said.

The stalemate led to the county government to operate on Vote on Accounts, approved by the assembly at the end of July, giving the county government a leeway to spend amounts not exceeding Sh12.5 billion or 25 percent of the amounts contained in the tabled estimates as required by law.

At the same time, he said the county executive has forwarded the Finance Bill to the assembly for approval.

“After we are done with the Appropriation Bill, we will then look at the Finance Bill before dispensing with the Annual Development Plan for the 2021/22 financial year which has also been presented to us by the executive,” said the Kariobangi South MCA.