Nairobi 12th March, 2024
Nairobi County Treasury held a one-day workshop program to sensitize appointed independent members of County Budget Economic Forum (CBEF) on County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP) and Medium Term Debt Management Strategy Paper (MTDMSP).
Speaking at the workshop, Head of County Treasury, Martha Wambugu welcomed the members’ contributions on ways to improve and better the county. “These presentations will help you familiarize yourselves with County’s Debt Strategy Paper 2024 and CFSP 2024”
She stated that Section 137 of the PFM, Act 2012, provides for the formation of CBEF whose main purpose is to provide a means of consultation by the County Government on the preparation of the County plans, the County Fiscal Strategy Paper, the budget review and outlook paper for the county, matters relating to budgeting, the economy and financial management at the County level.
Head of County Budget and Expenditure, Nancy Kiruri said ” We are in the process of organizing an induction but we felt it was important to take you first through the policy Papers that have just been made so that you are all up to par with what is going on in the county. We will help each other, and you will also have an opportunity to guide us where we are wrong, and we will also take you through what we as a county are doing for the betterment of Wanjiku. ”
Director, Economic Planning, Geoffrey Sianga shared that when external players are brought on board, they give a different perspective and even though perception has always been non state actors will come and only critique, the County appreciates the fact that a new dimension comes in which can really transform and make its processes better.
He said, ” For Economic Planning, we are embarking on other things, changing focus from what we have been doing in ADP and CFSP. This will add value to the entire planning process and also vision 2050. We want to have a long-term strategy for Nairobi County. Over time, we have been thinking narrowly in the medium Term, the only time we tried to do a long-term strategy was 2015/2025 Nairobi City County Strategy Plan, which was done and shelved. When you focus on 5 years, you keep missing the point. This is a dynamic city, and things change rapidly. We want to see how best we can implement using medium-term plans for the city. ”
Assistant Director Revenue Mr. Nixon Otieno said, “In the last 8 days, we have done Kshs 410M. This is what some counties collect for the entire year. Last year, around this same time, we collected Kshs 5.6B this year, presently, we have collected Kshs 7.4B, which means we are well on our way to achieving Kshs. 12B”.
He further shared Section 6 of the Finance Act 2023, which allows ratepayers to spread rates due monthly, quarterly, or twice a year.
He said, ” There is a new product that the county has introduced, which is the Unified Business Permit (UBP). We have also been able to open up different revenue streams within Nairobi Pay that had been classified as other incomes close monitoring of them will increase our revenues portfolio. I am confident we will be able to achieve our target with the 4 months remaining because we have other revenue streams we never used to account for, such as liquor board, hospitals, and Nairobi Funeral home.
Director, Debt management, Joshua Kimeu took the CBEF members through highlights of Medium Term Debt Management Strategy Paper such as increasing county revenue base by promoting economic development and improving revenue collection, Fiscal discipline, reconciliation of debts, immediate payment of retirees among others.
CBEF Secretary, Steven Mwaura said, ” We know our work is to assist the executive in its work of making Nairobi work. We appreciate the effort of bringing us together to exchange ideas for the betterment of this county. We will work together and look at all those revenue streams and see how it can improve and if there are areas that we can identify that have not been identified, explore them and add value to the mission and vision of this County government.
Present was Director Asset Management, George Mwariri, Deputy Director, Budget, James Ngunjiri, Wards Development Fund (WDF), CEO, Eng. Kimathi, Deputy Director, Economic Planning, Grace Chabari, Principal Economist, Petronilla Kangara among other County Treasury Officers and representatives from Religious Organizations, youth, Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs).
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