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Kenya: City MCAs Say Allocating Sh26.4bn to Nms Without Their Input Illegal

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6 years ago

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Nairobi MCAs have faulted the allocation of Sh26.4 billion to Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) without the involvement of the county assembly, saying the move is illegal.

Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Mbatia said that the allocation to NMS by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani has left the county assembly in total confusion, rendering its future bleak.

This comes after Mr Yattani last week allocated the entire Sh15.95 billion Nairobi County government equitable revenue share as well as Sh9.7 billion from the county’s own-source revenue to NMS for the 2020/2021 financial year.

Mr Mbatia questioned the move, saying that going by the Division of Revenue Act, national government transfers to Nairobi County should be done through the County Revenue Fund (CRF), where own-source revenue is also deposited, meaning that all the Sh26.4 billion allocated to NMS should be done by the county assembly.

BLEAK FUTURE

“The future looks bleak because the county’s own source revenue will hardly hit Sh8.5 billion. If NMS is to get Sh9.7 billion from the own-source revenue and all the equitable revenue share, then even funding the remaining functions and the county assembly’s Sh2.2 billion will be very difficult,” said the Kariobangi South MCA.

His vice chairman, Patrick Karani, termed Mr Yattani’s allocation to NMS as an illegality which can easily be challenged in court.

The Utawala MCA pointed out that according to the County Appropriation Act, funds due to counties should come from the CRF before being divided according to different allocations by the Division of Revenue Bill.