Nairobi County does not collect Sh14 billion as claimed by Kidero

Or is this an exaggeration by Governor Evans Kidero?

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero says his government has properly accounted for the funds it receives from local revenues and what it spends on wages and salaries.

The County collects around KSh14 billion annually. It receives an average of KSh13 billion from the national government. The national government owes the county KSh72 billion in debts. The county’s biggest expense is a wage bill of about KSh18 billion every financial year.

PesaCheck has fact checked these statements on how much money the county collects, how much it receives from the national government, and the county’s annual wage bill and have found all these claims to be FALSE.

Data from the2016 Annual report by the Controller of Budget shows that the county collected a total of KSh33.24 billion in the financial years from 2013-2016. This is an average of KSh11.08 billion per year.

Financial Year	Revenue Collected
2013/14	10.03
2014/15	11.49
2015/16	11.71
Total Collections	33.23
Average	11.08

In the last four years, the county has received a total of KSh49.359 billion from the national government as equitable share and conditional grants as stipulated in the County Allocation of Revenue Act. This is an average of KSh12.34 billion per year.

Financial Year	Revenue Allocated	Total
Equitable Share	Conditional Grants
2013/14	9.506	0.39	9.896
2014/15	11.34	0.025	11.365
2015/16	12.997	0.569	13.566
2016/17	14.023	0.509	14.532
Total Allocations			49.359
Total average			12.34

The wage bill for Nairobi County can be estimated by looking at the amount of money the County has spent on personal emoluments in every financial year. The Controller of Budget reflects this data in the annual budget implementation reports. An analysis of the wage bill shows that the county’s annual wage bill averages KSh12.56 billion. This is far below the KSH18 billion that Governor Kidero claims to be the annual wage bill.

Financial Year	Personal Emoluments
2013/14	10.30
2014/15	13.91
2015/16	13.47
Average	12.56

PesaCheck also looked into the total estimates for compensation to employees in the 2016/17 budget estimates for Nairobi County to determine how much the county would spend on the wage bill. We found out the total annual allocations for employee compensation is only KSh14 billion.

Therefore, the facts at our disposal show that Nairobi City County is collecting less money than stated by Governor Kidero. It is also receiving less amount on average than he claimed and the county wage bill is not as high as claimed by the Governor. Therefore, his claims are FALSE.

Do you want us to fact-check something a politician or other public figure has said about public finances? Write to us on any of the contacts below, and we’ll help ensure you’re not getting bamboozled.

This report was written by PesaCheck Fellow George Githinji, a political and social commentator, who is interested in devolution and public finance.The infographics are by PesaCheck Fellow Brian Wachanga, who is a Kenyan civic technologist interested in data visualisation. The report was edited by veteran investigative editor and PesaCheck co-founder Catherine Gicheru, with fact-checking by IBP-Kenya.

PesaCheck is East Africa’s first fact-checking initiative. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of so-called ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ or SDG public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org,

Source