The Nairobi City County will spend Sh1.9billion in the supplementary budget for the remaining part of the 2023/2024 fiscal year to pay debts owed to the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA), the Kenya Power and Lightening Company (KPLC) and the recurrent related pending bills.
KEMSA is set to receive a total of Sh 300million set to reduce the pending bills owed by the county to them while KPLC will receive Sh330million for their pending bills as Sh1billion is meant to cater for the recurrent pending bills.
The office of the County Attorney has also been allocated a total of Sh 200 million for the pending legal fees and arbitration together with Sh5million set for purchase of Law library books and research.
This is one per cent of the total 20billion pending bill for legal services which the county owes to various law firms for the services they offered.
According the chairman of the NCCA budget committee Wilfred Odallo reports that the county has paid Sh10 billion to legal firms are rumours as he dismissed Senior Counsel Donald Kipkorir’ s allegations that the committee had requested for a cut from his pay for prioritization.
“There have been several allegations by lawyers out here and I want to be clear that those are mere allegations. We have set aside a budget to pay a small percentage of the legal pending bills and my committee has never called anyone for a pay cut.” Odallo said.
The attorney’s office has also been allocated Sh 3 million for the procurement of furniture in the Supplementary budget.
Suppliers who trade with the county will receive Sh 330 million which has also been allocated to them.
“To reduce pending bills an additional Sh300million has been set aside to pay KEMSA pending bills, Sh330million for KPLC pending bills and an additional Sh1billion for recurrent related pending bills. The county will also pay an additional Sh330 million for those who trade with the county.” The report by the Assembly budget committee stated.
The expenditure for wages and salaries for the Nairobi staff for the remaining two months has been increased by 3.12billion as an additional Sh 140 million has been added to the disaster and emergency fund to combat disasters in the county through the office of the governor and his deputy.
The city county has allocated Sh 51 million to buy the Green Army unions while Sh 60 million has been set aside to buy protective gears for the fire personnel in the remaining part of the FY 2023/24.
On the contrary, the allocation for the development of the county has been reduced by Sh 5.5 billion while the lubricants, repairs and maintenance of the county fleet has been increased by Sh 200 million.
Further, garbage collectors and those offering cleaning services have been allocated Sh 600 million as the road materials have been given a budget of Sh 300 million.
The budget committee approved a budget of Sh 116 million to cater for the battle of choirs and their pending bills as they approved Sh 10 million for the branding of Dandora stadium, Uhuru complex, Mama Margret Hospital and other county facilities.
Shockingly, the county is expected to pay Sh 18 million as rent for their offices located at CBK pension towers for the months of May to August as Sh 10 million will be paid for domestic and foreign travel allowances respectively.
The county bursaries have also been given an additional Sh120 million for the remaining part of the financial year.