Nyamira county tops in budget making process

Nyamira County has been awarded for having the most comprehensive Finance Act as well as the best programme-based budget in Kenya.

A survey conducted by the International Budget Partnership Kenya (IBP Kenya) titled "County Budget Transparency Survey (CBTS)," shows that on the level of comprehensiveness, Nyamira published the most comprehensive Finance Act in CBTS 2023 scoring 100 out of 100 points.

Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo said a transparent budget-making process ensures accountability in implementation and robust debate around the same. "We need to appreciate the county finance team that ensures we have a timely, transparent budget-making process and public participation," Nyaribo said.

According to the survey 34 counties published at least one more budget document on their website upon sharing the draft availability results, up from 29 counties in CBTS 2022.

The survey shows compared to the formulation and approval stages of the budget cycle, the key budget documents produced in the approval and implementation stage are less comprehensive.

The survey demonstrates the best practices counties are putting in place to enhance access to budget information.

Nyamira county published eight of its 11 key budget documents and scored 70 out of 100 points. This was a significant improvement from 13 out of 100 points in CBTS 2022.

Kwale county recorded an index score of 81 out of 100 points, being the first county to attain an 'A' since the start of the comprehensiveness survey in 2020.

Kisii county published four 11 key budget documents and scored 40 out of 100 points. This is a significant drop from 58 out of 100 points in CBTS 2022. Kisii is one of the few counties that regressed, by stopping to publish key budget documents it previously made available to the public.

The county stopped publishing the approved Programme-Based Budget, Finance Act, and the Citizens Budget which they previously published in the CBTS 2022. In addition, Kisii is one of the 11 counties that have never published an implementation report in the last four rounds of the survey.

According to the survey, Kisii county provided relatively good budget information above 70 out of 100 points in the key budget documents it made publicly available.

However, the county does not present any information on the programme and sub-program level expenditure performance.

"It lacks the narrative justification for the budget deviations in the County Budget Review and Outlook Paper. But generally, the county's key budget documents are comprehensive," the report reads.

CBTS is an annual survey that assesses the availability of eleven key budget documents that, by law, each county is required to publish and publicize annually on its official websites.

The survey evaluates the information in the available key budget documents including revenue, expenditure, feedback on public participation, priority narratives, justifications, and details on capital projects.