The county will reduce its 2018-19 budget after the government slashed its allocation by Sh454 million.The cut will stall or eliminate some development projects. The National Assembly last Thursday slashed the funds allocated to counties by Sh9.04 billion following passage of the Finance Bill. The counties had been allocated Sh314 billion. The Bill was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The county has said development projects will be the worst hit by the funds reduction. Council of Governors chairman Josphat Nanok said the allocation to Nairobi will be reduced by Sh454.7 million — the highest. Lamu’s allocation will be cut by Sh102 million — the lowest.
The county’s current financial year budget is Sh34.8 billion. Some Sh24 billion or 70 per cent will finance recurrent expenditure, while Sh10.2 billion or 10.2 per cent is for development. It expected to received Sh15.7 billion from the national government allocation. It had also projected to raise Sh17.4 billion from internal revenue collection and another Sh700 million from grants.
Of the development allocation, Sh4.9 billion will go to roads and transport; Sh1.1 billion to solid waste management; Sh500 million to education, youth and agenda affairs and Sh601 million for health services.
Yesterday, Budget committee chairman Robert Mbatia called the situation “worrying”. “We are waiting for the official circular from the National Treasury on the changes. Obviously, we will introduce a supplementary budget because the deficit will be too huge and we may not be able to fill it,” he said. He said the focus will be on cutting recurrent expenditure but admitted some development projects will be sacrificed. Finance executive Alan Igambi expressed confidence that the Senate will stop the cuts when it receives the Division of Revenue Bill.
“It will be premature to assume that it [Division of Revenue Bill] will be passed. If it does, then we will definitely re-look at our supplementary budget,” Igambi told reporters.
A number of senators have protested the slashing of the funds, saying it will cripple development. Some have said they will shoot down the Bill when it’s tabled in the House.
“I will whip members to reject the budget cuts, just as we did in the previous budget. Counties are the first to suffer financial distress,” Minority chief whip and Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said.