Kwale tops in prudent spending, Nyeri last

Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya scrutinizes the budget on July 25, 2016 before approving it. The county increased its budget for development by Sh300 million compared to the last financial year’s allocation. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Another county from the Coast, Tana River, took the second position with a development expenditure of 57 per cent, while Turkana was third, with 53.8 per cent.
  • Of the Sh6.2 billion, Sh3.2 billion has been earmarked for development, which accounts for 52.4 per cent of the total budget.

Kwale has emerged as the top county on development expenditure in the first nine months of the 2015/2016 financial year.

According to a report by the Controller of Budget, Ms Agnes Odhiambo, the county led with a development expenditure of 57.3 per cent of its total budget, while Nyeri was last, having spent only 7.8 per cent of its budget on development. The year ended on June 30.

Responding to the news, Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya said: “We have been able to emerge top because of robust public participation and team work from the county’s executive, the county assembly  and the staff. But we need to work overtime to address development challenges.’’

Another county from the Coast, Tana River, took the second position with a development expenditure of 57 per cent, while Turkana was third, with 53.8 per cent.

Of the other coastal counties, Kilifi was among the best performers in the region, having been ranked 13th overall with a development expenditure of 33.6 per cent.

Lamu was 19th nationally, with 30.1 per cent, Mombasa 27th with 26.3 per cent and Taita-Taveta was second last with 10.2 per cent.

Of the 47 counties, only 19 met the government’s development expenditure threshold of 30 per cent.

Last month, Governor Mvurya approved the county’s total budget of Sh6.2 billion for the current financial year, which started on July 1. The budget is above last year’s by more than Sh500 million.

The county is expected to receive Sh5.5 billion from the National Treasury for equitable share of revenue, while it expects to collect Sh330 million from local revenue sources with another Sh404 million coming from conditional grants.

Of the Sh6.2 billion, Sh3.2 billion has been earmarked for development, which accounts for 52.4 per cent of the total budget. Another Sh2.9 billion has been set aside for recurrent expenditure.

FUTURE PLANS
The county increased its budget for development by Sh300 million compared to the last financial year’s allocation.

The amount allocated for recurrent expenditure was increased by Sh100 million.

The annual wage bill for the county’s 2,600 workers increased to Sh2 billion this financial year up from Sh1.7 billion last year.

The conditional grants of Sh404 million, include Sh119 million for free maternity health care, Sh95 million for leasing of medical equipment and Sh84 million for road maintenance.

Others are a Sh82 million loan from the World Bank and a Sh6.8 million grant from Danida to supplement financing of county health facilities.

According to Finance Executive Bakari Sebe, the county allocated more funds for development to finance ongoing projects such as roads, water, healthcare services, early childhood education, youth training, markets among others.

In a recent interview with the Nation in Kwale, Mvurya said the county had proposed Sh3.2 billion for development, which is 52.4 per cent of the total budget of Sh6.2 billion.

This, he added, was 22.4 per cent higher than the government’s threshold of 30 per cent.

“The reason why my county government has got a huge budget for projects is because we want to address development challenges facing our people,” he said at the time. “We want to address poverty levels of 71 per cent in the county whose population is 700,000 people.”