The Nyeri County Government is projecting to have a huge backlog of pending bills as a result of continued late disbursement of equitable share to counties by the exchequer.
According to the County Executive in Charge of Finance and Economic Planning, Robert Thuo, the county is anticipating to carry forward pending bills amounting to Sh128.8 million, which was not cleared at the close of the 2024/2025 Financial Year. The amount comprises Sh58.5 million owed to contractors and suppliers under recurrent expenditure and some Sh70.3 million under the development vote.
“I know Nyeri is not isolated, and this is going to be a challenge because we will carry the debt forward. Contractors who supplied services to the county in the months of May and June and those who are working now will have to wait until we roll over the new budget. Ideally, we were supposed to pay them using the 2024/2025 budget, but due to delays by the National Treasury to disburse equitable share in good time, we will have to pay them under this new budget,” said Thuo.
“However, I wish to reiterate our commitment to guarantee payment to all our contractors and all our service providers as long as there are no cash flow disruptions occasioned by delays by the exchequer,” he added.
Every year, Nyeri receives Sh6.5 billion as their equitable share from the National Treasury.
Thuo noted that the exchequer had disbursed a two-month ’outstanding revenue share allocation of 30.83 billion to counties just days to the close of the fiscal year, triggering a wave of requisitions to the Controller of Budget.
The County Executive said that the delays by the exchequer were not only affecting effective service delivery but also leading to poor utilization of funds by the devolved units.
“This is where the exchequer is hampering service delivery for counties because of late disbursement, and as a result, counties are unable to utilize the resources. Right now, we cannot access the County Revenue Fund account in Nairobi because the Controller of Budget has to give a green light, which takes between 3 weeks to one month. So technically, the money is there, but counties cannot access it,” stated Thuo.
He spoke at the County Assembly of Nyeri after tabling the Sh8.5 billion budget for the 2025/2026 financial year. The budget consists of Sh5.8 billion (68 per cent) recurrent and Sh2.68 billion (32 per cent) development expenditure. The key sectors that will take the lion’s share are health, education, agriculture and the department of roads and energy.
The County Department of Roads, Public Works, and Energy will take up the lion’s share of the development expenditure with a Sh 498.9 million allocation. Out of the amount Sh267.9 million will be used for road maintenance, building bridges, and maintenance of machinery and equipment. The department will also spend Sh 186.8million for installation of new streetlights, while Sh 100.2 million will go towards settling street lighting electricity bills.
For the Education Department, the county has set aside Sh498.15million for this fiscal year. Some Sh98.1 million of the allocation will be used for the construction of the new Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centres. The department has been allocated Sh17.4 million for improvement of ECDE centres and procurement of education-related materials, while Sh47.5 million will go towards upgrading and equipping of youth polytechnics, purchasing education materials, and capitation for the learners.
Agriculture has been allocated a total of Sh360.4 million, most of which will go towards making the county food secure and improving agricultural production. Thuo has set aside Sh236.3 million for the National Value Chain Development Project, while Sh40 million will go towards the purchase of vaccines as well as animal disease control and prevention measures. During this financial year some Sh28.5 million will be utilized by the department to facilitate livestock production through improved breeding.
The County Health Department will gobble up Sh286.5 million of the total development expenditure. The key allocations to support health activities include Sh100 million for medical drugs and non-pharmaceuticals, Sh72.7 million to support rural health facilities, and Sh36 million for equipping and refurbishment of health facilities. Thuo has allocated some Sh28.3 million for development at the County Referral Hospital.
He noted that the 2025/2026 budget is balanced and would be financed through an equitable share of Sh6.5 billion from the exchequer and conditional grants and loans totaling to Sh1.2 billion. The county government is also targeting to collect Sh800 million as its own source of revenue during the fiscal year. Additionally, the Finance CEC said that the county government expects to collect Sh850 million through the Nyeri Health Services Fund as appropriation in aid, which will be reinvested in improving access to quality healthcare services and infrastructure.
As a revenue-raising measure, Thuo said that the county would introduce a service charge for professionals working in the county. Additionally, he has proposed the introduction of new licenses for schools offering international courses.
“To ensure shared responsibility, a service charge will be introduced for professionals. This service charge will apply to lawyers, doctors and other professionals who benefit from public services but have not been contributing financially for things like water, garbage collection,” stated Thuo.
The Finance Executive also hinted at a possibility of introducing new taxes within the health sector. He said that the county wants to align its health service charges to Social Health Authority rates.
“Under health, new services are being introduced in line with SHA rates making essential care more accessible. We also propose the removal of outdated and redundant fees, therefore streamlining the finance framework,” he said.
On the other hand, Thuo has proposed a reduction in land rates from 0.75 percent per plot to between 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent. Similarly Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise business operators working in the field Marshal Muthoni Kirima terminus will also enjoy rent reduction for their stalls during the 2025/2026 financial year.
By Wangari Mwangi and Brian Mwangi
