Kisii County Approves 13.8B Budget to Promote Economic Recovery

Kisii Friday, June 23 2023

KNA by Mercy Osongo and Ongwae Julius

Kisii Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) have passed a budget of Sh13.8 billion for the 2023/2024 financial year in a bid to boost economic recovery for inclusive growth in the county.

According to the budget estimates tabled before the Assembly, the recurrent expenditure will take up Sh8.9 billion while development expenditure was given Sh4.9 billion.

The approved budget is expected to be financed through the equitable share of Sh9.2 billion, conditional loans and grants at Sh1.1 billion, conditional allocation from the national government at Sh421 million and Sh650 million from own-source revenue.

Speaking at the Assembly premises in Kisii town, the County Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairperson Peter Otachi noted that the budget received the highest allocation since devolution and comes at a time when the economy is recovering from the effects posed by the Covid-19 pandemic whose economic impacts need special attention.

“It was crucial to realign our budget priorities in the medium term and put more emphasis on measures that will direct more resources towards economic recovery after the ravaging effects of Covid-19,” said Otachi.

The Chairperson noted that despite the economic challenges and limited resources, the budget will play a central role as the government responds to the various economic shocks through the allocation of resources based on the priorities of the wards.

He pointed out that health and agricultural sectors would be among the biggest beneficiaries of the budget with both departments scooping up to Sh4.2 billion and Sh1.1 billion respectively.

Kisii County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Finance Kennedy Abincha expressed confidence in the implementation of the budget while acknowledging that the county had past challenges, particularly in generating its own revenue.

Abincha noted that they had revised their own-source revenue to a realistic base of Sh650 million considering that the previous years' revenue had been ranging from Sh400 to Sh450 million.

In order to improve the education outcomes in the county, Sh1.2 billion has been allocated to ECDE infrastructural development, purchase of educational aid and other equipment, bursary scheme and capitation fee plus construction of hostels for learners in vocational centres.

Key allocations have also been made to the Departments of Youth, Sports, Culture, Arts and Social Services at Sh228 million, Public Service and County Administration at Sh601 million, Infrastructure, Roads and Public Works at Sh1 billion, Water, Environment, National Resources, Energy and Climate Change at Sh574 million and Finance, Economic Planning and ICT at Sh1.3 billion.

The Department of Trade, Tourism, Industry, and Marketing has been allocated Sh308 million, Lands, Physical Planning, Housing, and Urban Development got Sh378 million while the County Assembly will receive Sh1.4 billion.

Notably, Kisii and Ogembo municipalities are set to benefit from Sh224 million of the budget.

The county also plans to scale up and enhance its social protection programme in the next financial year and has allocated Sh40 million for the construction of houses for vulnerable families.  

Courtesy ; K. N. A