News Categories: Finance and Economic Planning

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.

The department of Finance and Economic Planning, according to Public Finance Management Act (PFM Act) of 2012, is charged with the responsibility of preparing the annual budget for the county, coordinating the preparation of estimates of revenue and expenditure of the county government and the implementation of the budget of the county government.

The department is currently developing the County Fiscal Strategy Paper(CFSP) for 2020/2021 which is key document in the budget making process. CFSP help in setting the ceilings and clearly state the priorities by each sector. This is done by the sector working groups in the departments together with all the stakeholders.

Today a team from AHADI and Poverty Eradication Network (PEN) together with representatives from Nandi County civil society Network (NCCSN)to assess on the preparedness and progress ahead of budget making process for FY 2020/2021.

Speaking during meeting with the team, the CO for Economic Planning, Felix Sambu, said that once the CFSP is ready, the department will then engage the public in the budget making for FY 2020/2021. Thereafter, the budget is then tabled at the County Assembly for approval before adoption and implementation.

Felix Sambu, CO for Economic Planning speaking during the meeting.

He further acknowledged AHADI for offering Capacity building for both the county officials and members of NCCSN especially on matters of public participation and Citizen engagement in all county plans, projects and programs implementation.

Mr. Sambu added that the department of economic planning is partnering with that of ICT and e-Government to establish a system that would monitor the implementation of government projects from start to completion. The system will track the status, progress and manage timelines for these projects and programs.

According to Joel Olewe from AHADI, the county government of Nandi has positively adopted the citizen oriented governance. He further congratulated them on the productive partnership between the county government and the members of the Civil society who act as the major representation of the citizens.

The team from AHADI, PEN and Nandi County Civil Society Network.

The team led by Judith Gouchi and Ludivicus Omollo from Poverty eradication Network added that Nandi County is growing especially on matters of citizens’ participation. They congratulated the county for the Call Centre initiative as a public participation tool giving the public an opportunity to raise complaints as well as give their views and compliments

Mr. Shadrack Tarno , Nandi County Civic Society Network Chairperson,  appreciated the relationship between the county administration and the network pointing out that the county has always valued the society’s contribution especially in county decision making.
He called for the fast tracking of public participation and Civic Education bill to be passed at the County Assembly, get adopted and operationalized so as to help in successful implementation of public participation.

The county government of Nandi is in speed to complete all stalled markets in the county as a way of increasing space for the growing small scale traders.

According to the Nandi Governor Stephen Sang, completion of the markets will not only create more space for traders but also increase revenue collection for the county as well as creating employment for hundreds of residents.

Speaking during a visit to the stalled Kobujoi market, the County boss added that the county government is also working to enhance sanitation within the markets by ensuring that the markets have functional toilets and sufficient water supply.

“We are undertaking completion works at the stalled Kobujoi market in order to operationalize it for a conducive business environment and creation of job opportunities through encouraging our people to venture into business,” said the Governor.

“We just don’t want to have markets but we want to have markets that provide a conducive environment for our traders. We will work to ensure that the markets have adequate supply of water and other amenities like toilets,” he added.

The governor said his administration will replicate this in different urban centres across the county.

County’s ICT Sub sector, in its journey towards automation of all county processes, is looking forward to rolling out County Projects Management System (CPMS). This system intends to help all stakeholders in tracking progress and status of all projects undertaken by all the departments begin from the tendering stage all through to completion.

According to the CO for ICT &e-Government, Jonathan Misoi, the department is progressively digitizing county processes for good governance and effective delivery of services in the county.

He further added that the upcoming CPMS is going to re-engineer the existing manual projects’ M&E processes as well as give the citizens an opportunity to monitor and give their opinions on the ongoing projects in their respective wards.

The CO for Economic planning, Felix Sambu, speaking during a consultation forum between ICT and Economic Planning teams, stated that adoption of such system will boost monitoring and evaluation of projects, reduce delays in projects execution and enhance real-time reporting.

This system, with it’s main user as the Department of Finance and Economic Planning, will be a perfect tool for Monitoring and Evaluation of the programs and projects for successful and timely achievement of projects’ objectives as stated in the County Integrated Development Plan

A two day Public Participation on prioritization of development projects and programmes for the Nandi County Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2020/21 concludes as the budget process kicks off.

Residents from all the 30 wards in Nandi had the opportunity to participate in County matters and share their views and voices on the document in the spirit of participatory governance.

A resident of Kabiyet making his submission during a public participation at Kabiyet Community Social Hall.

Monitoring and Evaluation activities at the county level are a critical component for the successful implementation of projects and programmes in the county. Monitoring and Evaluation reports provides the feedback necessary for the monitoring of status in implementation of projects and programmes to enable decision-making organs to make informed decisions based on evidence. It’s through the Monitoring and Evaluation Reports that the relevance and effectiveness of the proposed projects and programmes being implemented can be ascertained.

The Economic Planning Unit of the County Government of Nandi coordinates preparation of the Annual Progress Report (APR) in collaboration with implementing government Departments.

The Chief Officer for Economic Planning Felix Sambu officiated over the opening session for a three day compilation of the Monitoring and Evaluation report in Kapsabet town.

The County Monitoring and Evaluation Report is a time to time documentation of the county projects and programmes with keen observations on progress in terms of indicators and implementation status of the programmes/projects.

It is prepared to review progress achieved following the implementation of the Annual Development Plan (ADP). This is, therefore, an enabler in tracking and thus strengthening of good development strategies, learning from
emerging issues and timely remedying of challenges identified.

The County Annual Progress Report is a strategic tool to report the progress of implementation programmes as set out in the ADP 2017/18 and 2018/2019. The report assesses the performance of each of the County government’s department in realising the aspirations of the people of Nandi through the set-out targets in the ADP. It provides information on the progress in the implementation of policies, programmes and projects; challenges encountered; and recommendations for future implementation.

The Economic Planning Unit conducted sessions for Monitoring and Evaluating the status of projects and programmes, which forms the basis of the preparation of the APR.

The process of preparing the APR involves consultations with various stakeholders, a process that ends with the subjection of the report for a validation process to enhance ownership.