The Nairobi County has moved one step closer to finalizing its 2020/21 Sh31.6 billion budget after a deadlock that has taken for more than two months.
The gridlock was occasioned by the standoff witnessed at the Senate over the County Revenue Allocation Bill thus making the county unable to appropriate sums to various county sectors to fund its budget.
The County Assembly had approved the budget estimates in July but the process stalled due to the stalemate at the Senate.
Nairobi has been operating on a vote on account that grants the County Assembly authority to spend amounts not exceeding Sh12.5 billion or 25 per cent of the amounts contained in the tabled estimates as required by law.
Assembly’s Finance, Budget and Appropriation Chairperson Robert Mbatia on Wednesday said the committee has been burning the midnight oil to ensure they come up with an apt budget to ensure both the Nairobi Metropolitan Services and the Governor Mike Sonko-led administration get a timely and reasonable distribution of funds.
“We will be passing the Appropriation Bill by Thursday this week although it was meant to be passed by end of June. It will be in the order paper for consideration,” he said.
The Appropriations bill is a document that allows for the expenditure of public resources – is now set to be tabled for approval before the House on Thursday (today).
For the assembly to draft the bill, parliament needed to pass the County Revenue Allocation bill which guides on how much money will be allocated to Nairobi in the equitable share.
With Nairobi being unique this year, the assembly also needs to know how much will go to the newly established Nairobi Metropolitan Services and how much remains to be allocated to the other functions still under the control of the Nairobi County Government.
In the proposed Sh31.6 billion budget, Sh25 billion is meant for recurrent expenditure while Sh6.4 billion has been earmarked for development initiatives.
Mbatia revealed that both NMS and the County executive have been honouring invitation by the committee and been holding separate meetings on the budget to try and iron out the finer details of the Appropriations Bill and to determine what funds will be allocated where, following the transfer of four core functions; Health, Public works, Planning and Transport from the County to the NMS.
At the same time, Mbatia who doubles up as Kariobangi South ward rep refuted claims that officials from NMS have been frustrating the budget-making process as indicated in media reports.
This was after it was revealed that the clash between NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi and Governor Mike had negatively affected the budget-making process.
“ Where people are sharing resources it is normal to have a push and pull where one team might see the need for one thing and the other might not. Both NMS and County officials have been attending meetings and this shows goodwill," Mbatia explained.
“On Tuesday both teams met to look into the issue of personal emoluments so I wouldn't say that there are any frustrations or ‘bad blood’ from either side.”
Going further, the Budget Chair also noted that the County executive last week brought the Finance Bill to the assembly, which will be dealt with after the budget.
“After we are done with the Appropriation, we will deal with the finance Bill. Next in line will be dealing with the Annual Development Plan for the Financial year 2021-202 which has also been presented to us by the executive,” Mbatia said.