Nyeri county unveils a Sh8.5bn budget, warns of pending bills crisis

Nyeri County has unveiled a Sh8.5 billion budget for the 2025/2026 Financial Year, with county officials warning of a looming backlog of pending bills due to delays in project implementation.

Speaking during the budget pronouncement at the County Assembly on Tuesday afternoon, County Executive for Finance Robert Thuo said the county may be forced to carry forward a significant amount of unpaid bills to the next fiscal year.

“We are facing a huge backlog of pending bills due to ongoing projects. We could not draft the supplementary budget in good time because of court cases that delayed our planning process, and this pushed us to adopt an operational budget late in the year,” Mr Thuo said.

He noted that the recent disbursement of the equitable share by the National Treasury came too late to allow for effective budget execution within the remaining days of the current financial year.

“There is a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to getting approvals from the Controller of Budget and making withdrawals from the Central Bank of Kenya. It is a tedious process, and this has made it impossible to execute the budget fully,” he said.

As a result, contractors working on various county projects will have to wait until the 2025/2026 budget is rolled out for payments to resume.

The proposed budget allocates Sh5.8 billion for recurrent expenditure, representing 68 percent of the total budget, while Sh2.6 billion has been set aside for development projects, amounting to 32 percent.

The budget will be financed through Sh6.5 billion from the equitable share, Sh1.19 billion from loans and grants by donors and government agencies, and Sh800 million from the county’s own source revenue.

Among the key highlights is the allocation of Sh20 million for the ongoing construction of the Governor’s official residence.

Mr Thuo clarified that the project is being implemented in phases in line with prudent financial management practices.

“There were technical delays in acquiring land and procuring a contractor, but we are now in the process of setting up the residence,” he said.

“This is not a one-off project, and the allocation will continue in subsequent budgets.”

The Finance Executive further stated that the county will not introduce any new taxes in the coming year, though some professionals, such as lawyers, will be expected to pay modest levies in exchange for county services like water supply, garbage collection, and emergency response.

The health sector received the largest allocation, with Sh2.6 billion set aside for operations, including Sh850 million under the Nyeri Health Services Fund, which was established in 2021.

Thuo emphasized the importance of sustaining the sector, terming it vital to county development.

The Department of Finance, Economic Planning and ICT was allocated Sh14 million for upgrading system software and improving internet connectivity. An additional Sh6 million was earmarked to support revenue collection strategies.

Nyeri County Assembly Finance Committee Chairperson Atanasio Kabaire, who is also the Mukurwe-ini West MCA, defended the budget, saying it was a people-centered document that took into account all critical sectors.

“This is an agricultural county, and we are happy that the agriculture sector has been allocated Sh239.1 million,” Mr Kabaire said.

“We inherited a high wage bill, which stands at 52 percent of the budget, and that’s why recurrent expenditure remains higher than development.”

Mr Kabaire also welcomed the participation of young people in the budget session, noting that even members of the Gen Z generation turned up for the pronouncement at the Assembly.

“This is a budget that does not burden our citizens,” he said.

He added that the construction of governors' official residences is a directive to all counties, aimed at cutting the cost of rental housing for county bosses.

“The allocation will continue in phases until the residence is completed,” he noted.