Nairobi County MCAs approve Sh34.6b supplementary budget

The Nairobi County Assembly has approved a Sh34.68 billion supplementary budget in which County executive officers and chief officers will pocket Sh61 million as gratuity and retirement benefits.

The revised supplementary budget has seen the county increase allocation for development to Sh11.56billion and slashed allocation for recurrent expenditure from Sh23.16 billion to Sh23.12 billion.

The Assembly had approved Sh34.55 billion for the Financial Year 2016/17 out of which Sh23.2 billion was meant for recurrent expenditure and Sh11.4 billion for development.

Sh1.643 billion had been planned for Ward based projects but later revised it upward to Sh34.68 billion in the supplementary budget.

The public service management sector is the major beneficiary of the supplementary budget after it received Sh120 million for staff training and overtime allowance increased by Sh70million.

According to the report, various sectoral departments have seen money slashed and re-allocated to others. Those that had their allocations increased received Sh568.4 million while those that were slashed received Sh370 million collectively.

However, the report tabled by the budget chairman Michael Ogada stated that since the Sh370 million which had been reduced could not fund the increased budget in the sectors, the surplus will be funded from the excess of the financial year 2015/16 amounting to Sh194.4 million.

Mr Ogada said that missed revenue target has been a major challenge in implementing the budget forcing them to supplement.

“We are having challenges in implementing the budget and urge the County treasury to reduce the margin of error by eliminating the tendency of supplementary estimates,” said Mr Ogada.

According to him, as of the second quarter of December 2016, revenue collected was Sh4.2 billion which was a major drop compared to the same period the previous years of 2014/15 and 2015/16 where the county managed to raise Sh4.32 billion and Sh4.9 billion respectively.

Sh21.17 million meant for sitting allowances and personal emolument has been reallocated for domestic travel for the county legislators and other operational expenses in the Assembly.

The trade, commercial and cooperative sector suffered a major blow after the committee reduced its budget of Sh129 million allocated after reducing cash meant for markets.

The proposed allocation of Sh96 million being condition grant from national government was knocked out.

Mr Ogada reallocated Sh137 million meant for early childhood education towards Governor Evans Kidero’s scholarship programme.

The county government has increased the staff medical insurance from Sh15 million to Sh865 million.

They also knocked out Sh50 million for culture change and Sh5 million for corruption eradication.