Governor Mike Sonko (pictured) has rejected a supplementary budget that handed over half of City Hall’s Sh36.9 billion budget to the new Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS).

In a special sitting on April 3, 2020, the Nairobi County Assembly approved the supplementary estimates and Appropriations Bill allocating NMS Sh15 billion to run four departments ceded to the National Government.

These are health, transport and public works, utilities and ancillary, planning, and development services.

City Hall was left with only Sh21.9 billion to run education, youth and social services, food, agriculture and forestry, devolution, public service and administration.

The assembly had also slashed approximately Sh203 million from the budget of the Office of the governor to kick-start NMS operations.

Yesterday, Sonko declined to assent to the bill and returned it to the County Assembly for review, albeit with changes.

In the changes, Sonko has reduced the Covid-19 emergency fund allocation to Sh520 million from an earlier allocation of Sh1.02 billion.

The governor, in justifying his decision, said that earlier allocations indicated in the bill had been drafted contrary to the deed of transfer which, while providing for ancillary services, does not contemplate an outright transfer of the listed functions.

Sonko indicated that the bill purported to fully transfer a number of support services that were still City Hall functions until such a time when they will be wholly transferred to NMS in liaison with the County Public Service Board and the Public Service Commission.

He argued that the bill presented to him for assent had also provided for allocation of monies to functions which were never transferred to the Metropolitan Services and still remain the functions of the Nairobi County Assembly.

“The amendments to the bill that gave rise to the irregular transfer and allocations was done without the input of the county executive committee member for finance contrary to provisions of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act and the County Governments Act,” said Sonko in a letter addressed to County Speaker Beatrice Elachi

The governor defended the slashing of the proposed Sh1 billion Covid-19 fund by half a million, saying the PFM Act stipulates that the CEC Finance cannot make payments out of the emergency funds exceeding two per cent of the last audited accounts.

According to Sonko, the county reported a consolidated revenue of Sh26,010,475,528 in the last audited accounts for the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

This means that the maximum that can be provided under the emergency fund is Sh520.2 million.

In the new changes, Sonko slashed a Sh8.9 billion recurrent expenditure of the NMS and an earlier allocated Sh2.9 billion development expenditure.

He, however, redirected some Sh8.4 billion to the county's recurrent expenditure and Sh3.3 billion to City Hall’s development expenditure.