Makueni on Thursday opened doors to one of its kind, a community-led development school and the first in Africa at Wote.
The school seeks to train citizens, community leaders, civil society professionals, and government officials from across the county and the country at large to ensure that every person has a voice in decisions that affect their lives.
It will also provide a platform to strengthen the capacity of county officials and community members on how they can be involved to localize sustainable development blueprints by the county.
While presiding over the inaugural function, Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr described the school as timely, adding that the center will offer collaborative learning that will be demonstrating the power of government-civil society partners.
In his keynote address, John Coonrod, vice president of the Global Hunger project and the founder of Movement for Community-Led Development (MCLD) lauded the county community-led development aspect, saying that it’s the only way to structure society consistently with human dignity as it moves decision-making closer to the people.
Governor Kilonzo re-signed a M.O.U with John Coonrod where its collaboration includes fundraising for county development initiatives, capacity strengthening of county departments on proposal writing, and fundraising among other key areas.
The 2023 Medium Term Debt Strategy Paper is prepared in accordance with Section 123 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012. It is the first to implement the third generation CIDP 2023-2027 and is prepared annually on a three year rolling basis covering a period of three years 2023/24 – 2025/26.
The debt strategy paper guides on debt management practices of the county government which includes the issuance process, management of the debt portfolio, and adherence to various laws and regulations governing debt contracting and management. It guides the county on the amount, type of borrowing to undertake over the medium term and evaluates the costs and risks of various scenarios and recommends an optimal strategy for implementation. The strategy ensures fiscal prudence in management of county resources to ensure debt is sustainable and is met at the lowest possible cost and with a prudent degree of risk while ensuring that the overall level of public debt is sustainable.
In the medium term, the county will enhance the resource mobilization strategies both internally and externally to fund the development programmes and priorities envisaged in CIDP III. To fund the government priorities in the medium term, the county will seek strategic partnerships to meet the fiscal gap in the implementation of the CIDP and strategic intervention. Key strategy is mobilizing additional resources above the national government transfers and the county own revenue mobilization. Additionally, the government will continuously manage its cash flow through short term lending from commercial banks to offset delays in equitable share disbursements and own source revenue mobilization.
The Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy is consistent with the broad strategic priorities and policy goals set out in the County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP), 2023. The strategies are set on the background of recovery from post COVID-19 pandemic and in the advent of new county administration.
The Budget implementation report highlights progress made in implementation of the Makueni County Government for half year of the Financial Year 2022/23, ending 31st December 2022.It also presents the key challenges that faced budget implementation during the reporting period and appropriate recommendations to overcome these challenges.
The County Government Revised Budget (1) for FY 2022/23 is Kshs 11,529,598,474.31 with Kshs 7,678,723,994.74 (67%) directed towards recurrent budget and 3,850,874,479.57 (33%) directed towards development budget.
The overall revenue performance for half year of FY 2022/23 ending 31st December 2022 was 23.04 percent. (Kshs 2,358,803,704.82).The equitable share and Conditional allocations loans and grants amounted to Kshs 2,044,940,889.80 representing 87 percent of the total actual receipts for the half year of the financial year. Own Source Revenue performed at 25 percent, for the first six months of the financial year.
The County recorded an overall cumulative absorption rate of 25 percent (Kshs 2,938,257,833.87) for the period ending 31st December 2022. Personnel emoluments recorded the highest abosption at 45 per cent (Kshs 1,996,294,414.35) whereas operations and maintenance recorded a 20 percent absorption rate (Kshs 661,981,907.52). Development expenditure amounted to (Kshs 279,981,512.00) representing 7 percent absorption rate
The County Government made exchequer requisition amounting to Kshs. 2,788,626,649.00 during the period. Kshs. 399,938,590 was for County Assembly while Ksh.s 2,388,688,059 was for County Executive.
The County Government development projects for implementation in FY 2022/23 are 1,218 in number. As at 31st December 2022, 3 percent of the projects were competed and in use, 21 percent completed to scope, 10 percent ongoing, 65 percent not started and 1 percent stalled.
The 2023 Makueni County Fiscal Strategy Paper is the first to implement the CIDP 111 2023-2027 which is being finalised. The 2023 CFSP is prepared pursuant to Public Finance Management Act, 2012 (PFMA) Section 117 and outlines the development framework for the FY 2023/24-FY 2025/26 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) Period. The CFSP outlines the strategic priorities, programmes and development agenda for FY 2023/24.
The FY 2023/24 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework will be guided by the development philosophy of Wauni wa Kwika Nesa na Ulungalu” – the desire to do good with integrity. With a rallying call for “Our people, our Priority”. The development theme for the Financial Year will be ‘enhancing efficiency for economic growth and community resilience’ and will be guided by the following principles; infrastructure development for rural and urban areas to improve access to roads, water and sanitation; strengthening cooperatives as vehicle for rural transformation; improving access to universal health coverage; building strategic partnerships for enhanced resource mobilization; automation of government services; youth empowerment and innovation; strengthening public finance management and public sector transformation for performance oriented results and decentralized government services.
The FY 2023/24 revenues are projected to increase to Kshs 10,191,980,170.00 from Kshs 9,832,783,562.00 in FY 2022/23 representing a growth of 4 per cent. The budget will be funded from three main sources namely equitable share – 81.8 percent, Conditional Allocations, loans and Grants – 8.3 percent and Own Source Revenue at 9.8 percent. The government is committed to enhance its resource mobilization strategies by building strategic partnerships for development to ensure delivery of the envisaged development outcomes in the medium term.
The recurrent expenditure for the FY 2023/24 is projected to be Kshs 6,866,046,086.87 an increase of 3 per cent from Kshs 6,660,769,154.00 in the printed estimates for FY 2022/23. The Development Expenditure is estimated to be Kshs 3,325,934,083.13 representing 32% of the total County Budget.
To deliver the envisaged results, all Accounting Officers are encouraged to strengthen their service delivery mechanisms to ensure the services are responsive to the needs of the citizenry. Each department will also be expected to put in place mechanisms to ensure full decentralization to the sub counties and wards. Additionally Departments and entities should embrace automation for efficiency in service delivery.
DAMARIS MUMO KAVOI
COUNTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER – FINANCE, PLANNING, BUDGET AND REVENUE
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr officially opened the Makueni County Budget and Economic Forum (CBEF) induction workshop for the newly appointed CBEF Members organized by the Department of Finance and Socio-Economic planning in collaboration with the Commission on Revenue Allocation(CRA).
The training was meant to equip the new members of their role in county planning and development as they start the five-year journey as the People’s think tanks during the budgeting process.
The 2-day induction workshop came to an end leaving the 3rd Makueni County Budget and Economic Forum with a rich understanding on various areas of performance. As part of the conclusion and way forward, the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) agreed to sign an MoU with the County Government of Makueni. Further, there is need for the Forum members to develop their work plan, code of conduct, terms of reference (ToR) and also form sub-committees for more effective and efficient service delivery. The forum members have a role of mobilizing the people they represent and also furnish them with information and feedback always.
