Bungoma County Assembly approves Sh15.2 billion budget

Bungoma County Assembly in session on June 28, 2024. [Nathan Ochunge, Standard]

The Bungoma County Assembly unanimously approved the Sh15.2 billion annual budget estimates for the 2024/2025 financial year.

The assembly allocated Sh10.3 billion to recurrent expenditure, representing 68 per cent, while a paltry Sh4.8 billion will go to development, representing 32 per cent of the total allocation.

The county will receive Sh11.2 billion of shareable revenue from the national government, reflecting an increase of Sh167 million compared to the 2023/24 financial year.

"Bungoma will receive conditional grants from the national government totaling Sh487 million and an additional Sh1.2 billion from development partners," said the Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Wambulwa.

"These donor grants will support various initiatives such as the Urban Support Programme (Sh35 million), the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project (KISIP) at Sh297 million and the Finance of Locally Led Climate Action Programme (FLLOCA) domiciled in the Water Department to a tune of Sh11 million and a Climate Change grant of Sh153 million," Wambulwa said

The Kimaeti ward rep said Bungoma would also receive a grant of Sh500 million from the Korean government through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) for last-mile water connectivity to the locals.

The county aims to raise Sh1 billion through Appropriations in Aid, reflecting a decrease of Sh88.4 million from the previous financial year's projections.

The county has set an ambitious target of raising Sh1.1 billion in local revenue, marking a growth of Sh325 million.

The Health docket will get the lion's share of Sh4.4 billion, followed by the Education and Vocational Training department which was allocated Sh1.6billion, the County Assembly Sh1.3 billion, Roads and Public Works Sh1.3 billion, and the Finance and Economic Planning docket got Sh1.2 billion.

Wambulwa said Governor Ken Lusaka's office has been allocated Sh723 million while the Public Administration docket got Sh594 million. “These departments will primarily use a portion of their budgets for recurrent expenses," he said.

The Agriculture and Water dockets have an allocation of Sh677 million and Sh680 million respectively to finance development projects.