News Categories: Finance and Economic Planning

A team of officials from the County Government of Nyamira visited Nandi for purposes of benchmarking in the areas of automation of revenue collection.

The Delegation was received by Japhet Tirop, Nandi County Head of Supply Chain Management.

Led by the CEC in charge of Finance, ICT and Economic Planning Emily Moraa Ongaga, Nyamira County top revenue officials visited the county to learn on the uniqueness in Revenue Management System.

In their visit, the Nyamira County Delegation sought to understand how the County Government of Nandi was excelling in the different areas of revenue collection within the Kapsabet Municipality and at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital.

The team also visited the Nandi Call Center that is improving the Government-Citizen relationship and changing livelihoods of the people. Through the Call Center, the county is implementing open governance and empowering citizen participation.

The team lauded Nandi for the innovative use of the Management System, especially in healthcare. “The HMIS is a great way to track all happenings in health facilities, especially for planning and monitoring the flow of commodities. It is what we need for all the health facilities in the Country to monitor services and to keep our data”, said David, one of the team members.

The visiting team commended the people centered approach of conducting business in Kapsabet Municipality adding that the public sensitization campaign on tax payment is evidenced by the way people are tax complaint.

“This is a wonderful, we are taking home with us a back to work report on efficient interdepartmental linkages on revenue management that we should replicate,” said Emily.

The delegation lauded Nandi for its strong core values and transformation of the revenue sector through the implementation of strong technology which clearly relates with the modern digital world, promising to adopt such principles in Nyamira.

Apart from the automation of revenue collection, the restructuring of Nandi revenue staff is another factor which has seen the County revenue collection go up since Governor Stephen Sang took over the leadership in 2017.

The County Government of Nandi, in the commitment to ensure participatory and transparent governance, continues to equip its county officers with the know-how on how to collate, validate, and manage the sectoral data that goes to their department data desk platform in the everyday management of the county’s service delivery and governance.

Officers in Session

In partnership with the Open Governance Institute, the County officers in charge of planning, together with directors from the departments, on Wednesday, participated in an intensive workshop to be guided on methods of collection and interpretation of populated data for a successful understanding of accurate aspects of data within the workings of the administrative functions of the County.

Training in Progress

Speaking during the event, Chief Executive Member Committee (CECM) Finance and Economic Planning, CPA Alfred Lagat, appreciated the capacity of the data desk, which provides for an accurate system to inform from historical data and identify gaps and structures that would be effective in implementation of programs going forward.

CECM CPA Alfred Lagat

On his part, Chief Officer of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Felix Sambu, urged the team to prioritize the critical function of the data required of them in their responsibilities of maintaining the desk, through timely and accurate updates since it goes a long way in identifying county activities that are on the right track and if the interventions put in place aligns with the output anticipated.

The Nandi County Open Data Desk is a major reference to implementation of transparent and informed decisions within the County Government. #ContinuedTransformation

In fulfillment of the requirements of Section 130 (1) and (2) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 and Standing Order No. 216 of the County Assembly, the CECM for Finance & Economic Planning CPA Alfred Lagat on Wednesday delivered the highlights of FY 2022/23 Budget to the County Assembly highlighting THE COUNTY BUDGET POLICY AND REVENUE RAISING MEASURES FOR next FISCAL YEAR.

Presentation of Proposed Budget to the County Assembly.

In his statement, the executive member reiterated the government’s commitment to implementing and completing priority programmes under the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP 2018-2022) and the County Annual Development Plan (CADP 2021-2022) to achieve the aspirations of its inhabitants while taking into account the need to optimally allocate the scarce resources to high impact programs during the plan period.

CECM Finance and Economic Planning,CPA Alfred Lagat.

The CECM revealed that the government has undertaken several targeted strategic interventions to achieve a resilient and sustainable economic recovery including:

I) Completion, equipping and operationalization of ongoing capital projects and in particular infrastructure projects with high impact on poverty reduction, equity and employment creation, these include: Hospital Complex with Mother and Baby Unit at KCRH, Nandi Cooperative Creameries (NCC) at Kabiyet, Nandi Textile and Apparel Unit (NATEX) in Mosoriot and Eliud Kipchoge Modern Athletics Training Camp in Kapsabet and Nandi Coffee Mill in Tinderet.

II) Equipping with requisite equipment the complete yet not operational projects relating majorly to health facilities, ECDE centres, water projects –distribution lines, power and water connections among others.

III) Settling of pending bills and bringing them to minimum possible levels.

IV) Consideration has further been given to interventions supporting Post-Covid 19 recovery as indicated in the socio-economic recovery and re-engineering strategy including disaster, emergency preparedness, Youth and Vulnerable empowerment programmes such as the Nandi County Youth service.

The proposed budget is was anchored under 8 broad pillars geared towards;

1. Improving Access to Health Care Services
2. Cushioning and Modernizing Agriculture
3. Improving conditions of Road network for increased investment and business
4. Investing in Sports, Youth and Vulnerable Groups
5. Promote Tourism, Culture, and Social welfare
6. Ensuring effective and efficient Public Service for Growth
7. Environmental Protection, Water and Natural Resources
8. Creating a Conducive Business Environment

On revenue enhancement and management, the county commits to maintain a strong revenue effort over the medium term to enhance revenue collection. To achieve this, several measures have been proposed in the Finance Bill, 2022 submitted together with Estimates for fiscal year 2022/23 for review and approval by the County Assemby.

Some of the proposals include; enhancing revenue collection, strict compliance measures, adoption of revenue enhancement best practices, use of IT systems for collection and enforcement, improvement of parking sites, enhancement of property rates collection, expansion of revenue bases, maintenance of the revenue collection and management.

The proposed budget estimates submitted to the house for consideration was received by the house deputy speaker and Chepkumia MCA Hon. Wilson Sang. CPA Lagat requested for the earliest possible approval of the budget which is necessary to achieve economic revitalization and fiscal consolidation. He further requested the assembly to deliberate on the budget and promptly give its approval. #TransformingNandi

The planning and implementation commitment of the County Government of Nandi is constituted on empowerment and societal change through economic, social, and political frameworks that aim at prioritization of needs, equitable resource sharing, and innovative solutions towards sustainability and improvement of the standard of living of the residents of Nandi.

The Nandi County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP II) 2018-2022 was founded on this mandate, and it has seen widespread implementation in various social and economic infrastructural sectors across all viable obligations and priority programs.

On Monday, the County Government of Nandi, through the department of Finance and Economic Planning, led by Chief Executive Member Committee (CECM), CPA Alfred Lagat and Chief Officer Economic Planning, Mr. Felix Sambu, held an in-depth end of term review with particular focus on; provision of assessment of the extent to which community needs were identified, the priority strategy mechanism the projects used, and their effectiveness in procuring desired output while reflecting on the pertinance of all the factors in play both in contribution and attribution. In addition was the concerns of input and output mergence.

Review in Process

An end-term review is a performance review that provides an assessment of the extent to which goals and targets have been achieved.

The event was highly participatory with stakeholder linkages from the national treasury directorate of administrative and support services (SADP) unit, county departmental heads, sector officers, and sector working groups.

Speaking during the review, CECM Finance and Economic Planning CPA Alfred Lagat outlined the evaluation structure with a key note on sector output performance tied to the input mechanism at play. He also highlighted the integration of meaningful public participation and documentation of the process as an evaluation tool for accountability and priority consideration. He also led the team to identify measures in which the public can identify variables that are tied to the precision of executing strategic priorities in their proposals in the aim to source from informed decisions.

CECM Finance and Economic Planning, CPA Alfred Lagat.

On his part, Chief Officer Economic Planning emphasized the critical guiding role the programmatic review of results achieved against revised CIDP targets plays in the transition process to further build on lessons learned and challenges addressed in the subsequent phase of the plan.

Chief Officer Economic Planning, Mr. Felix Sambu.

The workshop was marked with: reviewing submitted achievements against CIDP II programs and projects to identify gaps and variances; identifying significant achievements per department and overall observed result in each sector; identifying programs and projects implemented outside of CIDP II and evaluating their promotion of development stability; and identifying CIDP II programs and projects that need to be carried over to CIDP III after an analysis the suitability of its models and application techniques to the sector development.

Part of the team in participation.

The review is contingent as its implementation is still ongoing in its final fiscal year. It is an initial phase for the formulation of the subsequent CIDP (CIDP III) with the aim of diagnosing an objective measure of the executive operational devise of strategies and further providing a well-founded starting point in the formulation of a more refined new plan. #Winchit

The County Government of Nandi in collaboration with Open Institute is developing a data desk through which users can obtain relevant and actionable data. In regard, the OI held a workshop to officers from the Department of Finance and Economic Planning on open data collection and management.

Photo: Loise Mboo | Open Institute

Taking the officers through sessions, Loise Mboo from Open Institute took the officers through the various formats and types of data and the importance of open data management and communication. From here the officers from will be able to develop a data desk for each department. The Open Institute’s work at the county level is geared to building a data ecosystem that counties can use to exercise better decision making together with their citizens. It was also organized to find ways that counties can consolidate data from diverse sources and analyze them in ways that strengthen service delivery. The data that the counties deal with include national statistics, geospatial and weather data, administrative household data, and data about their own projects (progress, timelines, and financing).

Data desk will be used effectively to publish data visualizations through a dashboard so that citizens can weigh competing local priorities, and feel sufficiently informed to participate in a dialogue. Ultimately, its primary purpose is to enable the county government, the national government, and the public to track budgeting, procurement, and expenditure for local development projects.

Nandi County is pleased to host Open Governance Partnership (OGP), local government exchange and networking convention that is set to take place between 30th November – 3rd December 2021. This comes forth with Nandi county’s appointment to join OGP in 2020, its commitment in integrating openness in governance and the efforts in building an informed citizenry.

The convention brings together delegates from the Counties of Nairobi, Elgeiyo Marakwet, Makueni & Nandi, National government OGP representatives, Open Governance International (OGI), Mzalendo Trust, HIVOS, Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), NTA and Development Gateway.

The county’s key commitment areas include public participation, citizen engagement and open procurement. Rightful consideration of these core areas enhances transparency, accountability and responsiveness.

Nandi is keen in engaging and empowering citizens to directly influence and shape government plans & policies. It’s achieving this through establishment of openness and citizen engagement platforms. These platforms include the toll free County Call Centre (1548) , digitization of government processes and enactment of Nandi County public participation & civic education Act.

Among other guests to grace the event include representatives from CAJ-Ombudsman, Senate, Kenya Space Agency and Office of the Deputy President where OGP is domicile.

The County Government of Nandi through the department of Finance and Economic Planning is collaborating with the National Government’s Treasury-IFMIS department to train procurement officers, accountants, ICT officers, suppliers and contractors on invoice tracking solution which is to be launched by the National Government in due course.

The two day training was chaired by Head of Procurement Japheth Tirop and Shadrack Kirui together with officers from the National Treasury Mary Kurgat and Agnes Kithau.

The officers were trained on how the IFMIS invoice tracking solution process is done where by the system allows them to receive notifications in every stage of the process including inspection of goods and notification to create an invoice. This is in a bid to ensure transparency, accountability and openness in the procurement process which is Nandi’s top commitment in achieving open governance.

‌Statistics, which is a concurrent function of the county and national government, informs on current and future policies at both levels of government.

Today the County department of Economic Planning in collaboration with KNBS held a meeting that brought together various stakeholders key in the formulation of Nandi County Statistics Abstract (CSA) 2021.

CSA is a summary of statistics in the demographic, social, economic and environment of a county with data from ministries, department and agencies in the county. This data cover five (5)year period preceding the CSA year. After it’s adoption in 2013, the first abstract was developed in 2016.

Nandi county is currently developing its second CSA 2021 that captures data from 2016-2021. It is at it’s initial stage and the county statistics unit is tasked to collect data from county departments whereas KNBS collects from the national government. KNBS will also offer technical guidance to the team.

Speaking during the forum, Governor Sang highlighted the need to have quality data as it provides crucial information for proper planning, good decision making and appropriate distribution of the sharable resources. He added that this data is key in enhancing openness in government as one of the County’s commitment area in Open governance.

In her address, Esther Oyugi -Deputy County Commissioner for Tinderet, speaking on behalf of the County Commissioner, said that the national government departments are in full support and further called upon all these departments to fully participate in the process. She added that KNBS has set up a technical committee that will work together with county statistics section in development of Nandi’s CSA 2021.

According to Rosemary Bowen- Senior Manager National Statistical System(NSS), Nandi county is third nationally after Laikipia and Makueni in development of CSA 2021. She pointed out that there is need for swiftness in this process for timely acquisition of data at the county level which translate to the development of National Statistics Abstract (NSA).

County’s Economic Planning Section is shifting it’s efforts to monitoring performance and results as it journeys towards effective implementation of County Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System (CIMES). This result-based monitoring, tracks outcome and its impact thus ensuring prudent use of resources, data-based reporting, transparency, openness and effectiveness in project implementation.

The county department of finance and economic planning in partnership with state department of Planning held a workshop on M&E capacity development and policy coordination. The meeting brought together Chief Officers, Directors, Sub-County &Ward Administrators and departmental economists who are the major stakeholders in project implementation.

In this forum the stakeholders managed to assess the current status of County M&E, check the progress of CIMES implementation, transition to the electronic M&E System and sharing of data and drafting a road map towards a successful M&E in FY 2021/2022.

In his address, the chief officer for Economic Planning, Felix Sambu said that results based M&E ensures quality project implementation, openness and citizen satisfaction. He added that the department is underway in digitizing M&E through the roll out of electronic County Monitoring and Evaluation System(e-CMES).

The Chief Officer for ICT and e- Government, Jonathan Misoi pointed out that the county is progressing towards digitizing all government processes and now focusing on M&E with the intention of creating an opportunity for openness in project implementation.

“This system enables timely tracking of data, status and progress of projects and programs across the county. It also allows shearing of data and thus enhancing an informed citizenry which is Nandi key commitment in achieving open governance,” added Mr. Misoi.

The National Treasury and Planning is mandated to ensure effective national and county development planning.

It is by doing so as to provide overall policy guidelines, building staff capacity and extension of technical support to the counties in preparation of regional, county and local plans which are all linked to Kenya Vision 2030.

Today a team from state department of planning led by Elizabeth Wamalwa visited the county for consultative discussion with the planning stakeholders.

This was for the purpose of guiding and harmonizing national and county development planning within the county.

These brought together directors and other representatives from the national government led by the County Commissioner, Chief officer and economists from County department of Economic Planning and the county directors.

Elizabeth Wamalwa, Economist from state department of Planning training on the guidelines.

The National Treasury and Planning is currently focussing on giving guidelines for all counties to conduct Mid Term Review(MTR) of County Integrated Development Plan(CIDP) 2018-2022 which will help in assessing performance and ensuring accountability.

Furthermore, to guide counties in developing sectoral plans.

The 10 year sectoral plans will guide on the long term budgeting and development in the county.

It will focus on issues concerning economics, administration, socio-cultural, demographics, environmental and natural resource management.

A team of economic experts at Nandi Flame Restaurant during a session with the county commissioner.

In his address, the Nandi County Commissioner  Olaka Kutswa, pointed out that the national government is joining hands with the county in the move towards developing these the sectoral plans, keeping in mind the need to map and align the county plans into the national economic blueprint and even further to the global priorities.

Olaka Kutswa, Nandi County Commissioner addressing the team.

According to the Chief Officer for Economic Planning, Felix Sambu, the county has developed sectoral working groups and currently working on Monitoring and evaluation handbook that would aid in tracking development in relation to the planning objectives.

Felix Sambu, Chief Officer for Economic Planning speaking during the meet up with economic experts.

While receiving these guidelines from state department of planning, Mr. Sambu furthered that the county together with the planning and development stakeholders, will be undertaking a midway strategic review of the Nandi CIDP.

This review is a reflection on the progress made so far in implementing the programmes as spelled out in the development plans.

Mary Kemei, Senior Economist in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation in the county.

“This review will give a report on the achievements realized, challenges faced, lessons learnt and even stating the commitment going forward. The report will thereafter be presented to the all the stakeholders and as a result, the review will be of much benefit in tracking and enhancing the successful implementation of the plans,” added Mr. Sambu.