9.1 Kiambu County

MAP 9.1

Kiambu County

Source: World Bank.

cooperatives, of which 314 are active. The most common cooperatives are urban Sacco with over 82,000 members and an annual turnover of K Sh 1.2 billion. The Sacco dairy cooperative has approximately 60,000 members and an annual turnover of K Sh 7.2 billion. The Sacco coffee cooperative has 55,000 members with an annual turnover of K Sh 516 million.

There is one public university, four private universities, an institute of technology, and a technical training institute. The county has 1 county general hospital, 14 subcounty hospitals, 33 public health centers, and 72 public dispensaries. There are 26 private hospitals and 147 private clinics.

The decentralized functions (per Constitution 2010) of the county government include agriculture, health, control of pollution, cultural activities, transport, animal welfare, trade and development, county planning and development, preprimary education, village polytechnics, home craft centers and early childhood education, environmental conservation, public works, and local community public participation. The county is mandated per the Urban Areas and Cities Acts 2011 and 2019 (UAC 2011, 2019) and County Governments Act (CGA 2012) to provide the following services: solid waste disposal, street lighting, public housing, office and shop rental, hospitals, preschools, vocational schools, a sports stadium, a game park, markets, and constituency university campuses, among others.

The county has 3,954 kilometers of roads of which 2,034 kilometers are tarmac, 1,480 kilometers are gravel, and 430 kilometers are earth. There is a need to improve roads; many are impassable during the rainy season. The railway infrastructure includes a 13-kilometer line within the county with daily commuter trains, but the system remains underutilized even though there are

four railway stations (in Kikuyu, Limuru, Ruiru, and Thika towns). Housing development remains a priority area in Kiambu County given its proximity to Nairobi (Kiambu County 2018a).

The county does not meet its water needs; of the total 469,244 households only 172,872 have access to piped water and 296,371 have access to potable or safe water, even though Kiambu County has 16 permanent rivers originating from Aberdare ranges. Solid waste service is underdeveloped in the county; only 2.6 percent of the urban population has facilities for waste disposal, of which less than 1 percent benefit from organized (private) waste collection: 29.1 percent use garbage pits, 29.6 percent dispose of waste in farm gardens, 12.1 use a public garbage heap, and 25.9 percent opt to burn the waste. The county plans to construct landfills and incineration facilities to handle this challenge (Kiambu County 2018b).

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS

Analysis of revenues and expenditures is an integral part of an assessment of asset management because it provides a solid background picture in which assets are positioned, developed, and managed. Revenues generate cash or cashlike instruments that are transient forms of assets, since land can be sold to generate cash revenue to develop schools, or cash can be saved for rainy days. Finally, the surplus remaining after current expenditures are covered with current revenues provides funds for development. Loans or other liabilities can also finance development. In short, revenue and expenditure analysis provides important insights and sheds light on the trends and capacities a county possesses in developing assets and expanding services.

Revenues

Kiambu County’s revenues grew an average 13.8 percent per annum in the 2013/14–2017/18 fiscal period (table 9.1). The county relies strongly on national government transfers, which provide for around 80 percent of its revenues. Own-source revenue (OSR) provides for 20 percent of total revenues. This is a relatively high share compared to other Kenyan counties (except Nairobi), but the share of OSR shows a slightly declining trend. The national government has supported devolution by substantially and steadily increasing transfers to counties (CRAB 2015). Transfers from the national government grew on average 13.8 percent, while OSR grew only on average 9.3 percent per annum, which is moderately above inflation (CBK 2020). A closer look at OSR, however, shows a jump after devolution until the 2015/16 fiscal year and then a massive shrinking trend occurred (–17 percent per year) in the following years. One would expect the opposite, or at least a maintenance of the level of OSR in absolute terms; some may mistakenly read these figures that growing transfers crowding out OSR or reducing the willingness of local governments to seriously collect OSR. The equitable share from the national government grew by 15.4 percent per annum, twice as fast as inflation, providing a good cushion to cover growing expenditures and maintaining dynamic development.