Nairobi South B Member of County Assembly Chege Waithera has demanded an urgent explanation from Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration after Nairobi City County missed out on Sh5.7 billion in World Bank grants due to failure to meet key governance and financial reform targets.
The MCA says the loss of the funds is a major setback for service delivery in the capital and wants the County Executive Committee Members responsible for Finance, Revenue, Public Service and the Office of the Governor to take responsibility for what he describes as “avoidable failures.”
The funds, which were expected under the Second Kenya Devolution Support Programme (KDSP II) financed by the World Bank, were withheld after Nairobi failed to meet several critical performance indicators tied to governance, financial management and public sector reforms.
According to the World Bank’s assessment, the county failed to implement an agreed plan for clearing pending bills owed to suppliers and contractors, despite years of complaints from businesses that have struggled to receive payments for goods and services rendered to the county.
The report also points to Nairobi’s continued underperformance in own-source revenue collection, with concerns over the transparency and efficiency of its revenue administration systems.
Despite being Kenya’s economic hub with the largest revenue potential among all counties, Nairobi has repeatedly fallen short of its own revenue targets.
The county has also been faulted for failing to fully digitize its payroll management system, instead relying on manual processes that have for years raised concerns over payroll fraud and the existence of ghost workers.
The World Bank further noted that the county had not undertaken a comprehensive payroll audit and staff verification exercise to clean up its wage bill.
The South B MCA said the findings mirror concerns that have been raised by oversight institutions over the years regarding weak financial controls within City Hall.
“The people of Nairobi deserve an explanation. Losing Sh5.7 billion because of failures in governance, financial management and accountability cannot simply be ignored.
Those responsible must be held accountable,” the MCA said.
She added that the County Assembly will seek detailed explanations from the Executive on why agreed reform targets were not achieved despite the county being aware of the conditions attached to the World Bank funding.
The MCA further questioned why the county has continued to struggle with pending bills despite previous commitments to develop payment plans and settle verified claims.
She also raised concerns over the county’s payroll management, saying repeated reports by oversight agencies have highlighted irregular recruitment, payroll inconsistencies and allegations of ghost workers, yet little corrective action has been taken.
The latest findings are likely to pile pressure on the Sakaja administration, which has in recent years faced scrutiny over procurement practices, revenue collection, expenditure management and implementation of financial reforms.
Legislators in the county feet that the loss of the Sh5.7 billion grant could affect financing for critical county programmes, including urban infrastructure, healthcare, water services, environmental management and institutional capacity building.
Waithera now wants relevant County Executive Committee Members, Chief Officers and officials in the Governor’s Office to appear before the County Assembly to explain the failures and present a clear roadmap on how Nairobi intends to meet the World Bank’s reform benchmarks and qualify for future funding.
She maintained that while development partners remain willing to support devolution, counties must demonstrate transparency, accountability and prudent management of public resources if they are to continue benefiting from such grants.
