NYERI, Kenya – The Controller of Budget (CoB) has released a report revealing that the Transport, Public Works, and Infrastructure department of Nyeri County led in the absorption of development funds during the first quarter of the 2023/2024 fiscal year. This sector recorded a 9.5 percent utilization rate of the allocated funds, closely followed by the County Public Service Administration and Youth Affairs, which posted a 7.6 percent rate.
According to Kenya News Agency, Dr. Margaret Nyakang’o, the Nyeri County Assembly led in recurrent expenditure, spending 29.2 percent of its budget, closely followed by the health sector. The office of the County Attorney was noted as the lowest spender in terms of the recurrent budget, utilizing only 6.9 percent.
During this period, Nyeri County received a total of Sh551.25 million in equitable share revenue and an additional Sh229.24 million as Facility Improvement Fund (FIF), along with Sh108.11 million raised from its own source revenue, bringing the total available funds to approximately Sh888.61 million. Despite receiving the FIF, the report pointed out that the county had not allocated these funds in its budget for the period under review.
The county’s expenditure on employee compensation totaled Sh595.65 million, with development expenditure at Sh89.25 million. This represented a decrease in employee compensation from the previous year’s Sh892.42 million. Specifically, the health sector’s wage bill constituted 57 percent of the total wage bill, amounting to Sh362.67 million.
Further details from the report indicated the County Assembly’s expenditure on committee allowances for its members and the Speaker, totaling Sh5.12 million, against an annual allocation of Sh25 million. Additionally, domestic travel expenses for the Assembly and the executive were reported at Sh48.69 million and Sh37.27 million, respectively, with foreign travel costs amounting to Sh15.35 million, of which the Assembly accounted for the majority.
Dr. Nyakang’o has recommended that the county government address the issue of pending bills, which stood at Sh71.72 million as of September 30, 2023. She also highlighted the need for improvement in own-source revenue collection, which was significantly below the annual projection of Sh800 million. The adoption of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD) system for salary processing and prioritization of planned development programs were among her other recommendations to enhance fiscal discipline and service delivery.
Nyeri County anticipates receiving a total of Sh6.49 billion as equitable share revenue and Sh762.95 million in conditional grants for the current financial year, aiming to generate Sh800 million from local collections to support its Sh8.05 billion annual budget.
Governor Mutahi Kahiga, in his address last November, underscored the county’s achievements in agriculture, education, health, and infrastructure, as well as fiscal discipline that enabled the clearance of all pending bills owed to suppliers, maintaining the statutory requirement of 30 percent of the budget for development purposes.