A delegation of Kenya’s media stakeholders, ranging from the Kenya Editors Guild, the Media Council of Kenya and the Media Owners Association held the first round of debates on July 11, 2022. This involved Nairobi County’s gubernatorial aspirants. In a statement from the Presidential Debate team, this round of debates would soon be followed by the deputy presidential debates on July 19 and eventually the presidential debates on July 26, 2022.
In a fact-check of claims made by Nairobi gubernatorial candidate Polycarp Igathe here, Piga Firimbi found that his claims on the rate of eligible voters in Kenya were accurate.
On the other hand, his counterpart Johnson Sakaja, who is hoping to move from his current position as Nairobi Senator to Governor claimed that Nairobi was allocated Sh3.3 billion more from the national budget during his tenure as Senator. Sakaja said this in trying to defend the work he has done for Nairobi citizens as the current Senator.
“When I became senator for Nairobi it was receiving 15 billion,” he said, “It is now receiving Sh3.3 billion higher at Sh19 billion. This is over and above what any other county gets.”
Background
Sakaja was voted in as Nairobi Senator in 2017. At the time, Polycarp Igathe was also a representative of Nairobi City County as Former Governor Mike Sonko’s deputy. Igathe quit after six months. According to IEBC’s ‘Data Report of 2017 Elections‘, they both won with a majority of over 800,000 votes under the Jubilee Party. They were heavily backed by President Uhuru Kenyatta as a unit alongside the then Woman Representative aspirant Rachel Shebesh who lost to Esther Passaris by over 100,000 votes. Now, Sakaja is vying under a rival party, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), led by Deputy President William Ruto.
Verification
The County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report as published by the Office of the Controller of Budgets confirms the claim that Nairobi County was indeed allocated Sh19 billion from the national budget in the current financial year 2021/2022.
“To finance the budget, the County expects to receive Kshs.19.25 billion (48.6 per cent) as the equitable share of revenue raised nationally”, the report states.
The same report as issued by the Office of the Controller of Budget for the financial year 2016/2017 indicates that Nairobi County was allocated Sh 14.28 billion from the national budget that year, hence making Sakaja’s claim that the budget allocation at the time was 15 billion INACCURATE.
“To finance the budget, the County expects to receive Kshs.14.28 billion (41.3 per cent) as equitable share of revenue raised nationally,” the County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report 2016 states.
At 41.3% of the budget allocation in 2016 and 48.6% in 2021, Nairobi often gets the lion’s share of the budget. This is not necessarily due to Senator Sakaja’s efforts. The Commission on Revenue Allocation explains that county budgets are calculated based on the county’s indices on population, health, agriculture, urban, poverty, land area, roads factors. See the formula here.
Add comment