Evans Kidero Sh8 billion budget deficit shock

By Protus Onyango

A huge deficit in Nairobi County government’s budget is likely to paralyse development projects in the county.

Governor Evans Kidero says thenational government has slashed his budget by Sh8 billion.

The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) had proposed allocation of Sh11billion to Nairobi County but the figure was later revised to Sh16 billion.

In the budget read two weeks ago, the county was allocated only Sh8 billion, just half of the revised figure. Dr Kidero had unveiled a Sh31.5 billion for the 2013/14 financial year.

I had prepared the budget and presented it to the public and the County Assembly for approval. But now we are told we will only get Sh8 billion,” Dr Kidero says.

In the national budget, Treasury has allocated to counties less money than the governors expected.

Dr Kidero adds, “This will cripple our operations and greatly affect our plans. We really wanted to transform this county but this leaves us in an awkward situation.”

Our budget

Due to the slashing of the funds, Dr Kidero says residents of Nairobi County should not expect much to be spent on development.

“We inherited an empty and indebted city government and we are forced to pay the debts with money from our budget. We also have a high wage bill resulting from a collective bargaining agreement awarded to the employees by the court last year,” Dr Kidero says.

He noted that initially, the defunct county council was spending Sh500 million per month on workers’ salaries but that has been pushed to Sh800 million.

Recently, workers downed their tools claiming they had not been paid but Dr Kidero later said they had been paid.

In the 2013/14 budget, Dr Kidero had reserved Sh4.7 billion to be paid to financial institutions that advanced loans to the defunct city council.

In the budget, Public Health, Public Works and Infrastructure had been allocated the highest amounts of money.

According to Dr Kidero, the amount is part of the Sh9.6 billion (31 per cent of the budget) set aside for capital development projects.

Dr Kidero allocated Sh1.8 billion for the rehabilitation of City Mortuary and all the health centres. He has also suggested that the mortuary be renamed Nairobi Funeral Home.

Waste management

He further allocated Sh4.3 billion for street lighting, maintenance of roads and drainage systems and infrastructure equipment.

Another Sh724 million will be used for solid waste management and solid waste vehicles.

He said he had set aside Sh980 million for rehabilitation of markets and enterprise development.

He will further spend Sh4.4 billion on finance and economic planning which includes Treasury, Procurement, Administration and fleet functions.

Education, culture and social services have been allocated Sh554 million while Sh5 million will be used for public service management.

This will be used for rehabilitation of learning institutions and social services. Planning, Housing Development and setting up of an up-to-date valuation roll have been allocated Sh625.

The governor’s office has been allocated Sh823 million to be used on county assembly and executive, inspectorate and Information, Communication and Technology. He also revealed that 15 per cent (Sh4.8 billion) of his budget would be spent on operations.

Service providers

Under operations, Sh200 million has been earmarked for a four-year secondary school bursary scheme for needy students.

The 60 clinics in the county will get Sh320 million to procure drugs while Sh520 million has been set aside for contracted service providers to collect garbage from outside the Central Business District.

He allocated Sh300 million for street lighting and Sh150 million for fuelling county vehicles.

He said he hopes to raise Sh14.6 billion from internal sources within the county while transfers from the national Treasury will cater for Sh16.9 billion.

He expects to raise Sh4.3 billion from property rates, Sh1.6 billion from single business permits and Sh800 million from billboards and adverts.

He is also targeting to get Sh2.8 billion from building permits, Sh1.9 billion from car parking and Sh3.2 billion from other revenue resources.