Health, school feeding programme get lion's share of Sakaja's Sh42.3bn budget

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja's newly launched school feeding programme and the health sector have received the lion's share of his first Sh42.3 billion budget.

The 2023/24 budget, which was read at the Nairobi City County Assembly by the County Executive Committee (CEC) for Finance and Economic Planning Charles Kerich, allocated Sh28.3 billion to recurrent expenditure and Sh14 billion to development expenditure.

Mr Sakaja's school feeding programme, which aims to increase school enrolment and is based on inclusivity and public participation, has been allocated Sh1.2 billion, while the health and services sector has been allocated Sh1.1 billion.

This amount will be spent on the purchase of medical supplies and the construction of dispensaries and health centres in various wards.

Health centres in Nairobi that have received a large share of the budget include Mbagathi Hospital (Sh100 million), Mama Lucy Hospital (Sh120 million) and Pumwani Maternity Hospital (Sh70 million).

The remainder of the allocation will be used to complete ongoing works at the health facilities and to build new dispensaries at sub-county and ward levels.

Through the school feeding programme launched by President William Ruto last week, the Nairobi City County government is targeting 250,000 children.

Of the total allocation, the Sakaja-led administration will spend Sh500 million on the construction of 10 central kitchens and 100 serving sheds.

Special focus

According to Mr Kerich, the county government has focused on two sectors - quality health care and the school feeding programme - because of their huge impact on the city's residents.

“In this regard, special focus will be placed on the interventions that touch on infrastructure, health care, environment, school-going children, the youth, and expanding the tax base for more revenue to finance development. It will also involve putting more focus on sectors envisaged to have the largest impact on the livelihood of Nairobians such as the quality and affordable healthcare as well as the school feeding program,” Mr Kerich said.

The Sakaja-led administration will also seek to establish five county and sub-county offices at a cost of Sh400 million.

“In order to bring services closer to the residents, I have allocated Sh400 million, for construction of Borough offices, Sub-County and Ward offices. The boroughs will be the focal point for planning and will provide a ‘One Stop Shop’ where the residents can access all the services offered by the Nairobi City County. This will ultimately reduce the time taken for Nairobians to get the services and ultimately the cost of doing business,” Mr Kerich said.

The cost of running the new units is expected to be even higher, as they will be added to the existing ones.