Peter Kenneth said Nairobi County has had Sh100bn over four years. He's close

Did Nairobi county receive Sh100 billion in four years?

“…Those are rates which he found the government owing the city council. When he came in, the government owed over Sh65 billion. So he should not give an excuse, for what was already owing, it had nothing to do with his regime. He should account for the Sh100 billion as to what he has done with it… ”

Candidate for Governor of Nairobi, Peter Kenneth on Jeff Koinange Live, July 26, 2017

In 2013, the county government was owed Sh63.5bn, according to the Nairobi County 2017/2018 fiscal strategy paper. That amount increased to Sh147.3 billion in 2015 and Sh209.8 billion in 2016.

According to the 2016/2017 Strategy paper, rates accounted for 99 per cent of the debt, caused primarily by accumulated interest on rates arrears by government institutions. This year, at the Forum of Chairpersons of Constitutional Commissions and Holders of Independent Offices, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said the national government owed Sh64bn to the county.

Newsplexused the County Allocation of Revenue Acts and the County Budget Implementation Review Reports from the Controller of Budget in order determine how much revenue Nairobi received over the four years. Based on his quote we did not restrict ourselves to funds allocated by the national government, but all revenues.

LARGELY ACCURATE

Over the four years of 2013/2014 to 2016/ 2017, the Nairobi County government has collected Sh41.9 billion in revenue and Sh49.2 billion in equitable share and conditional grants. That comes to a total of Sh91.1 billion.

A notice published in the National Treasury in the Daily Nation on July 28 put the total funds paid to Nairobi County over the four years as Sh49.65 billion, which would raise the total to Sh91.6 billion.

However, this figure only includes Sh8.72 billion as revenue collected for three quarters of the 2016/2017 financial year, according to the most recent report by the Controller of Budget, published in May 2017.

If we assume that revenue in the fourth quarter was collected at the same rate as the previous three, then the county would have collected an estimated Sh11.6 billion in revenue the whole year.

That would mean the county collected Sh44.8 billion over four years, and total funds received over four years, from government would be Sh94.04 billion or Sh94.5 billion, if the numbers from Treasury are used.

Although his number is off by about six per cent, Mr Kenneth’s estimate of the funds Nairobi County obtained are largely accurate. His 2013 estimate of Sh65 billion is also close to the 63.5 billion that the county government claims.