Your chance to participate in Nairobi county budgeting
City Centre.
City residents will on Monday get a chance to review the county government’s budget estimates for the next financial year.
The public forum at Charter Hall is an observance of the public participation requirement that is demanded by the law.
County Secretary Lilian Ndegwa in a public notice said: “Participation in this forum is expected from the general public that includes, elected leaders, resident associations, leaders of various professional bodies, individuals, civil society, entrepreneurs, corporates and government departments, to mention but a few.”
The county expects to unveil a Sh26.3 billion budget in the next few weeks. This will be the second budget under the stewardship of Governor Evans Kidero.
In February, the county conducted 85 meetings in the wards seeking public views on priority projects, some of which are expected to feature in the budget.
There has been concerns that key infrastructure projects have been starved of cash with City Hall’s recurrent expenditure eating into the development budget.
In the revised budget for this financial year, the development budget was revised from Sh7 billion to Sh4 billion, which falls below 30 per cent of entire budget that is set by the Public Finance Management Act as the best practice.
The county is keen to have public participation following a flurry of cases contesting the County Finance Act 2013.
The cases were brought by lobby groups who complained they were never consulted during drafting.
While the budget is not likely to attract as much acrimony as the Finance Bill, the declaration of Kiambu County Finance law as illegal for lack of public participation has set a precedent where a resident with a single lawsuit could cripple the entire government process.