MCAs Up In Arms Against Sakaja’s ‘Punitive’ Supplementary Proposals
By Erick Ludeya
Nairobi MCAs have warned against Governor Johnson Sakaja’s proposed supplementary budget that seeks to increase the approved budget of Kshs.43.56 billion to Kshs.44.46 billion.
The supplementary proposals further seek to reduce the development budget of Kshs.14.26 billion to Kshs.12 billion while raising the recurrent budget from Kshs.29.3 billion to 32.39 billion.
This has attracted furious reactions from the MCAs who are now questioning why the executive is focusing more on increasing its recurrent budget at the expense of development programs that have stalled.
Senior county officials including sector heads had a difficult time before Sectoral Committees to explain the budget cuts on development programs itemized for the 85 wards.
The proposals leave the development budget at 27% with the MCAs demanding that it must be fixed at 30% as required by the law.
The law requires that public finances are managed in accordance with the principles of fiscal responsibility, which state that a minimum of thirty per cent of the County Government’s budget be allocated to development expenditure.
This is captured in section 15(2)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act,2012.
While the executive has attributed this to the reduction in the equitable share for Nairobi County as contained in the Division of Revenue Act, 2024, the MCAs insist that some of the additional amount on recurrent expenditure is aimed at serving self-interests.
Ward Development Fund and Assembly Budget
The Committee on Ward Development Fund heard that the county is proposing to slash Kshs.200 million from the Kshs.1.9 billion budget for Ward Development Fund.
The WDF Acting Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Eston kimathi was unable to explain how the sector arrived at the proposal and why the fund was almost dysfunctional.
Mountain View MCA Maurice Ochieng asked Mr. Mwathi to explain the source of his itemized proposals but the CEO hardly spoke anything about it.
“How can the CEO come here totally unaware why this reduction is being made when he is the presiding officer over this fund,” he questioned.
The WDP is a Capital development Programme which ensures that a specific portion of the County annual budget is devoted to the Wards for purposes of development and in particular the fight against poverty and improving the lives of Nairobi residents in the 85 wards.
At the same time, the County Assembly’s development budget in the proposal will be slashed from Kshs.1.63 billion to Ksh.1.28 billion with an extra Kshs. 259,956,794 for its recurrent budget up from the initial 1.92 billion.
Uproar on road projects and stolen materials
The situation was tense in the Sectoral Committee on Transport and Public Works where officers from the Mobility and Public Works appeared to plead for consideration of their proposals.
The Mobility Chief Officer Michael Waikenda remained tight-lipped as his counterpart Geoffrey Tirop grappled to explain the stalled projects in the sector against the proposals for more allocation on recurrent budget.
The committee questioned why the sector was proposing allocations for road equipment of Ksh 150 million and road maintenance of Kshs. 60 million at a time the allocation for key projects were being scrapped despite the rigorous engagement of the public through public participation.
The committee also raised concerns over the need to increase purchase of road materials by Kshs. 303 million to Kshs. 510 million.
This is after the officers from the executive admitted before the committee that road materials purchased last year were stolen at the county warehouse near the OTC area.
Baba Dogo Ward MCA Geoffrey Majiwa warned that this was another scheme to steal from the public considering the county cannot account for road materials purchased last year.
“This is the usual plan that the executive keeps playing with us by coming up with proposals aimed at enriching themselves,” he said.
It emerged that some county officials have been arrested over theft of the construction material among them electrical cables.
Governor Johnson Sakaja in a Kamkunji meeting with the MCAs had convinced them to forgo real time road projects for purchase of road materials. They now claim that the governor played games
The MCAs said the move by the executive to slash budgets on road projects that are already ongoing is a scheme to accumulate pending bills. A case in point is reduction of the budget for upgrading to bitumen standards of Drumvale-Sir Henry Ringroad in Ruai by Ksh 93.9 million from Ksh 137 million.
The contractor is yet to be paid any amount from the county with the MCAs questioning the spirit behind the move.
Road projects initially approved at Ksh. 490 million in 18 wards will also be scrapped if the proposals go through.
The committee further pointed out that the Sh 40 million proposed for recovery of vehicles is another scheme to divert public funds for personal gain
MCAs problem with Sakaja and Finance Department
Most of the MCAs did not shy away from laying blame to Sakaja and the Finance Department for allegedly ignoring sector recommendations and imposing their own proposals.
This is after most of the officers appearing before the committees failed to explain the source of the itemized proposals.
Gatina Ward MCA Kennedy Sakwa said it was helpless for the MCAs to blame Chief Officers and Directors when they know the elephant in the room.
“Why should we go in circles asking these guys questions when we know where the problem is,” he questioned.
Woodley’s Davidson DNG Ngibuini said the governor was not being honest when he listed Woodley Stadium as part of the projects the county has spent money on.He said no money has been paid and that the award process is still on.
The legislator warned that the governor risks losing the goodwill of the MCAs if he takes the route of dishonesty.
“We had a caucus with the governor where he gave us his goodwill on projects but it is seemingly not there anymore,” he said.
Some of the MCAs said they were having it difficult on the ground after promising residents projects that were budgeted for, only to be scrapped.
Controller of Budget
According to the Controller of Budget report, the County did not report any spending on development programmes in the first quarter of FY 2024/25, and likewise in FY 2023/24.
This means that no payments have been made to contractors in regard to development projects.
MCAs at the assembly have agreed with the CoB report, noting that the accumulating pending bills is enough evidence.
In the first quarter of FY 2024/25, the County received Kshs.5.45 billion to fund recurrent and development activities. The equitable share from the national government was Kshs.1.71 billion and had its own source revenue (OSR) collection of Kshs. 2.26 billion. In addition, the County had a balance of Kshs1.48 billion from FY 2023/24.
The Kshs.2.26 billion Own Source Revenue includes Appropriations in Aid (AIA) of Kshs.76.49 million and Facilities Improvement Financing (FIF) of Kshs.382.45 million and Kshs.1.81 billion as ordinary Own Source Revenue.
Adoption of Supplementary
The MCAs are expected to be recalled for a special session to consider the supplementary proposals before proceeding for the long Christmas recess.
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