Nairobi county debt has accumulated to Sh78.1 billion.
Official data indicate that the debt has risen by Sh22.6 billion in four years. It was Sh55.5 billion in July 2017.
The Nairobi County Budget Review and Outlook Paper, 2021, says City Hall's debt has grown by Sh5.9 billion within one financial year. It was presented to the county assembly by Finance executive Allan Igambi last week.
Igambi blamed the ballooning debt on penalties imposed by creditors.
"As of June 30, 2020, the outstanding debt stood at Sh72.9 billion but has grown to Sh78.1 billion as of June 30, 2021," the document reads.
The county government still owes the Kenya Revenue Authority Sh751 million, despite paying Sh400 million. Another Sh381 million is owed to the National Social Security Fund.
Debt owed to Local Authority Pension Trust (Laptrust), now stands at Sh14.9 billion after increasing by Sh2.4 billion.
Money owed to the Local Authorities Pension Fund (Lapfund) has increased from Sh19.7 billion to Sh23 billion.
In July, it was revealed that the money owed to Lapfund and Laptrust had attracted monthly penalties totalling Sh28.22 billion, which was more than three times the principal amount of Sh8.83 billion.
The county government sought to renegotiate its Sh37.07 billion pension debt owed to Lapfund and Laptrust as penalties on the arrears continued to accumulate.
The water debt has accumulated to Sh234.9 million, while the money owed to Kenya Power is Sh477 million.
For almost seven days, City Hall has been using a power generator to ensure normal operations are not interfered with. This is after Kenya Power disconnected electricity, claiming City Hall had a longstanding Sh1.5 billion debt.
To tackle the rising debt, Deputy Governor Ann Kananu's administration plans to reduce the county's expenditure while diversifying the generation of own-source revenue.
