Friday, 14 March, 2025
Senators take Governor Sang to task over low expenditure on development in Nandi County𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟏𝟑 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓
The Standing Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations met with Nandi Governor Stephen Sang today to deliberate on the low expenditure on development in the county.
This development comes after Senators learnt that in the 2022/2023 financial year, the County Government of Nandi had a total approved development budget of Kshs2.4 billion against a total approved budget of Kshs8.5 billion representing 28.18 per cent, which is below the 30 per cent requirement.
In the same year, the total development expenditure of the county was Kshs1.97 billion, representing 24.8 per cent of the total expenditure of kshs7.93 billion.
While responding to Senators’ concerns about the gap between the budgeted development allocation and actual expenditure, Governor Sang blamed his county’s dismal performance on the underperformance of its own-source revenue.
He explained that the low own-source revenue collected impeded the county’s capacity to undertake as many development projects as they had planned causing the disparity.
“Nandi County Government recorded an underperformance of 6.3 per cent of its own-source revenue. We failed to meet our projected target of Kshs373,234,444 and only achieved to collect Kshs349,389,680,” Governor Sang said.
Governor Sang also laid the blame on the protracted procurement processes, as mandated by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, as well as the delayed disbursement of Funds by the National Treasury.
“The National Treasury delayed the disbursement of funds impeding the progress of our development projects. In addition, the Kshs70 million for the National Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) was not remitted,” he added.
Members of the Senator Mohamed Abass-led Committee counselled the county boss to expand Nandi County’s revenue streams and automate its revenue collection processes.
Automating the revenue collection process, they said, would help the county to increase its own-source revenue by reducing administrative costs and mitigating pilferage of public funds.
“The National Treasury is proposing to have a unified revenue collection system across the country. Governor, I hope you will incorporate the system in your county,” Senator Abass, the Chairperson of the Committee, suggested.
“If you look at the Auditor General’s report, county governments did 56,000 manual cheques. Can you imagine someone sitting down and writing all those cheques? We need to do better,” Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka reinforced.
Senators urged Governor Sang to make Nandi County the “model of good governance” since he has “adequate experience having served as a Senator” for one term and now two terms as governor.