Despite Nairobi recording a rise in revenue collection for the financial year 2017/18, the office of the controller of budget has highlighted loopholes caused by county assembly members’ allowances.
According to the revenue report, the county is on the spot for spending Sh62.45 million on Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) sitting allowances for the 128 members against the annual budget allocation of Sh66.56 million.
The figure has been flagged to be an increase of 251.3 per cent compared to Sh17.46 million spent in a similar period for the financial year 2017/2018.
The discrepancies highlighted by Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo the MCAs allowances means that the county will be forced to seek for more funds that will go to cater for the MCA’s allowances between January to June 30 when the financial year ends.
Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo
Of concern to Odhiambo was also the Sh157.35 million spent on domestic travel with Sh19.02 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh138.33 million spent by the County Executive.
The county has further been faulted for not providing a report on the developmental project the county has undertaken this despite the fact that already Sh1.42 billion has already been used out of the Sh10.84 billion monies set aside for the development expenditure.
The Wage Bill that is underway has also been cited as an impediment to the progress of the county.
This is all in light of Nairobi recording a rise of 3.88 billion for the financial year under review. Current governor Sonko has been lauded for overseeing this alongside his staff.
The trend, according to Odhiambo, is a departure from the previous regime of Governor Evans Kidero where the collection of revenue was characterized by enormous challenges where there were significant number of leaks that led to the collection of insufficient funds.