Speaking during a visit by Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro to City Hall Wednesday morning, Kidero indicated that most of the monies go towards paying about 8,000 workers inherited from the National Government/CFM
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 9 – Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero wants an increase in revenue allocation from the National Government saying the county uses Sh18 billion annually to pay workers which is more than the allotted funds.
Speaking during a visit by Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro to City Hall Wednesday morning, Kidero indicated that most of the monies go towards paying about 8,000 workers inherited from the National Government.
Governor Kidero stated that the Sh11.2 billion allocated to Nairobi County for this year is not enough and appealed for an upward revision of the amount.
“Before devolution, Nairobi used to get Sh14.4 billion per year as capitation from Central Government. With only about 7,000 employees, salaries stood at Sh600 million but with the extra 8,000 whom we got from Central Government, our salaries are at Sh1.5 billion a month which is about Sh18 billion a year,” he said.
While acknowledging the need to fund the County Government sufficiently, Ethuro emphasized the need for City Hall to ensure that devolution works through efficient service delivery.
“The County Governments are the people now charged with the responsibility of translating the constitutional provisions to reality. One of the realities that will be obvious is the provision of services in terms of infrastructure, in terms of health and in terms of education. When this country went into a reform mode it created a platform for discharging that reform,” he stated.
Ethuro also called for a cordial working relationship between the Senate and all 47 County Assemblies across the country.
Speaking after visiting the Nairobi County Assembly premises, Ethuro pointed out that devolution brought its own challenges and stated the need for everyone to present a unified front.
He stated that this will ensure devolution succeeds and reduce duplication of roles between the Senate and county assemblies.
“We are all interpreting our mandate. The Constitution has not clarified what the County Assembly can oversight and what the Senate can oversight and for me I took the view that let us all start biting the cherry for now,” he said.
“As we work together, we can be able now to see where the nexus is as to what the Senate can oversight and what the county assembly can oversight.”
While acknowledging the need for unity, Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Alex ole Magelo outlined some of the gains made which included the passing of crucial bills.
“Some of the assembly achievements and milestones include the gazettement of the Nairobi Assembly precincts. It is also the first county to pass the Ward Development Fund Act, acquiring and furnishing of ward offices for elected MCAs to enhance their representative roles,” he stated.
The Senate has been accused of interfering with the roles bestowed to county assemblies especially on the oversight role.
The Council of Governors had accused the Senate of violating the cardinal guiding principle of delegate representation and voting as envisaged in the Constitution.
One of the areas of contention is the summoning of Governors over audit queries even before the assemblies do so to interrogate county executive over the same.
According to CoG, it is the role of the MCAs to probe audit queries by summoning executive members and chief officers to answer the queries.
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