Nairobi assembly cuts NMS budget by Sh6bn
The headquarters of the Nairobi City County Government along City Hall Way.
What you need to know:
- In the new budget projections, the overall spending was increased by Sh1.9 billion to Sh39.6 billion from the current Sh37.7 billion.
Nairobi County Assembly has slashed Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) budget for the financial year ending June 30, 2022 by Sh5.92 billion.
In the revised budget, the MCAs awarded themselves Sh2 billion more.
In the new budget projections, the overall spending was increased by Sh1.9 billion to Sh39.6 billion from the current Sh37.7 billion.
Recurrent expenditure will take the lion’s share of the budget at Sh27.01 billion leaving less than half (Sh12.59 billion) for development expenses.
The budget breakdown in the revised County Fiscal Strategy Paper passed by the County Assembly last week Friday shows that NMS will get Sh21.18 billion for the transferred functions. This is inclusive of Sh1.5 billion Ward Development Fund which was transferred from the Office of the Governor to NMS by the county legislators last year.
The Major General Mohamed Badi-led administration was allocated Sh27.1 billion in the current financial year ending June 30.
Out of the NMS allocation, Sh12.05 billion will be spent on recurrent expenditures, leaving just Sh9.12 billion for development.
“City Hall has been allocated Sh14.3 billion for the retained functions with the remaining Sh4.1 billion going to the County Assembly for its operations up from the current Sh2 billion,” said the Budget and Appropriations committee chairman Robert Mbatia.
MCAs allocated Sh143.6 million to the County Public Service Board, Sh250 million to the Liquor Licensing Board and set aside Sh140 million as emergency fund.
To support micro and small enterprises, Sh1.03 billion has been proposed for the trade, commerce and tourism sector.
The expanded budget comes even as the county continues to fall behind its own-source revenue collection targets.
Nonetheless the county government remains optimistic about the outlook, forecasting Sh20.4 billion in own-source revenue in addition to the Sh19.25 billion it will receive as equitable share from the national government.
So far in the current fiscal year, City Hall has only realised a paltry Sh8.6 billion in internal revenue, the lowest ever-recorded by the devolved unit, against a target of Sh17.2 billion.
The dismal performance is largely attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and arbitrary grant of waivers.
