The budget memo contains budget proposals from the public Sub county stakeholders who attended the IEA Kenya pre-budget hearings that took place on Tuesday, 18th August 2018 at Twin Tower Hotel in Homa Bay Town. The proposals submitted were consolidated and synthesized by the IEA according to the various Medium Terms Expenditure Framework (MTEF) sectors largely based on their feasibility, whether they make economic sense and whether they are in line with the county priorities of the government. The Budget Memo seeks to influence county government decisions and help civil societies to develop viable alternatives to government policy. Equally, it provides a complementary avenue for deepening participatory budgeting given the legal basis for public participation in government planning and budgeting processes. Since the country transited into devolved system of government, it is envisaged that through the IEA-Kenya pre-budget hearings and Budget memo, there is likelihood of increased civil society’s engagement with county government planning and budgeting.
2.0 Why focus on sanitation and why does coverage matter? Sanitation is a devolved function of the county government and a constitutional right in Kenya. The National Government has the responsibility of ensuring that it develops the requisite policies on sanitation which are then
integrated and implemented by the county government. Further, universal access to improved sanitation yields maximum health, social and economic benefits. For example, Homa Bay County loses Kshs. 920 million each year due to poor sanitation and this includes losses due to access time, premature death, health care costs and productivity. This estimate does not include some costs that could be significant (such as water pollution and tourism) and is therefore likely to under-estimate the true cost of poor sanitation.
