Nairobi City County has an approved budget of Ksh. 39.63 billion for FY 2021/22 out of which Ksh. 12 billion is expected to be spent on development and Ksh. 26 billion on recurrent expenditures.
The County expects to receive Ksh. 19 billion as the equitable share of revenue raised nationally, generate Ksh. 19 billion from local sources of revenue and they have a cash balance of Ksh. 600 million from Financial Year 2020/2021.
Nairobi expects Ksh. 166 million as conditional grants.
Revenue Performance
During the Q1 of FY 2021/22, Nairobi City County received a total of Ksh. 3 billion as equitable share of revenue raised nationally and they raised Ksh. 1.46 billion from local sources of revenue. The total funds available for expenditure was Ksh. 4.63 billion.
During the period under review, the Office of Controller of Budget approved Ksh. 2.55 billion for withdrawal from the County Revenue Fund Account. This amount was for recurrent expenditure.
Nairobi did not spend even a single cent on development during the Quarter one of FY 2021/2022.
Pending Bills
Nairobi County had a total of Ksh. 54.32 billion as pending bills at the beginning of FY 2021/2022. However, they failed to submit a payment plan for the same.
Expenditure performance
Nairobi City County spent Ksh. 1.76 billion on compensation of employees – payment of salaries, wages and benefits. A further Ksh. 825 million was spent on operations and maintenance.
Nairobi spent a total of Ksh. 139 million on emergencies from the Emergency Fund. The next largest expenditure from operations and maintenance was on foreign travel with a total of Ksh. 38 million being spent.
The Members of County Assembly in Nairobi City County consumed Ksh. 24 million on sitting allowances.
The department of Urban Renewal and Housing and the Ward Development Fund did not report any expenditure during the first quarter. It is ironical that while President Uhuru Kenyatta and his government are focusing on building 500,000 units of affordable housing, counties such as Nairobi City can afford not to spend any funds on housing and urban renewal. This is a sign of lack of seriousness on the part of these devolved units. There is a mismatch between the priorities of the two levels of government.
It is interesting to note that Nairobi City spent Ksh. 320 million on Resource Mobilization (whatever that means) out of a target of spending Ksh. 597 million during the financial year. This was one of the best absorption rate of 53 percent.
Not a single cent was spent on Early Childhood Development Centres or Technical and Vocational training despite having a budget of Ksh. 309 m and Ksh. 70 m respectively. This shows that the city county lacks seriousness in provision of education to the residents.
The Office of Controller of Budget observed that Nairobi City County must pull up their socks when it comes to absorption of development budget. The county spent zero or nil out of a budget of Ksh. 12 billion for the FY 2021/2022.
Nairobi City equally under-performed on own-source of revenue collection. They collected a just Ksh. 1.4 billion against a target of Ksh. 19.6 billion. Finally, the Office of Controller of Budget raised red flags concerning the high pending bills of Ksh. 54 billion at the beginning of the financial year which the county has not shared a plan on how to make the payments.
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