This archive report was first published on 24 July 2019.
Nakuru County Governor Lee Kinyanjui's administration has been forced to rollover Sh5.3 billion in unspent development funds from the 2018/2019 financial year, pushing the current budget to Sh21.3 billion.
The rollover was necessitated by the county's failure to spend 32.2 per cent of its Sh8 billion development budget in the financial year that ended on June 30.
According to the 2019/2020 budget estimates report tabled in the County Assembly by the Budget and Appropriations Committee, the county treasury plans to spend Sh6.1 billion on wages, Sh4.6 billion on recurrent expenditure and Sh10.5 billion on development.
The Department of Health took the lion's share of the budget at 31.1 per cent, followed by the Department of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning at 13 per cent and the Department of Infrastructure at 11.9 per cent.
However, the committee expressed fears that the implementation of the Public Service Superannuation Scheme Act No.8 of 2012, which affects civil servants who were devolved to counties, would put a heavy burden on the budget.
Additionally, the committee predicted that the county would face a challenge in implementing the 2019/2020 budget due to Sh2 billion in pending bills that have not been verified.
