Council of Governors (CoG) Chairman and Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has raised alarm over Kenya’s growing public debt, saying it is a major obstacle to equitable resource allocation to counties.

Speaking during an interview with a local TV station on the night of Wednesday, August 6, 2025, Governor Abdullahi noted that while political parties often pledge to increase county allocations to at least 35% of national revenue during campaigns, these promises are rarely fulfilled after elections.

“If you indeed want to know that it is good to devolve more resources and that is a good thing to tell the Kenyan public, look at what happens in the run-up to the general elections. Look at the manifesto of every single party that is close to power. Everyone talks of giving the counties at least a minimum of 35%. Some even say 45%, but that one is just said in the run-up to the general election,” he said.

He pointed to the Nigerian model, which distributes national resources among three levels of government—federal, state, and county—with counties receiving 20%, states 35%, and the federal government 45%.

Poor public debt management

The governor blamed poor public debt management by the national government for stifling devolution.

He further called for bold reforms and a renewed commitment to fiscal discipline at the national level to protect counties from further marginalisation.

“The Nigerian model is three-tiered; there is federal, state, and county. The counties get 20%, the state gets 35%, and the federal government gets 45%. We are nowhere near that, I think, partly because of how the centre has managed its resources since the promulgation of the new constitution,” he emphasised.

“One of the things that is possibly denying counties their fair share of resources is the question of public debt, which has ballooned over the period that we’ve had devolution. The national government is not managing public debt properly,” he added.

County allocations

In March 2025, county governments were allocated about Ksh405 billion as the equitable share of revenue in the new financial year after the National Assembly approved the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) for the 2025/26 financial year.

The devolved units, according to the BPS, would also receive Ksh69.8 billion as part of the county’s additional allocation as per the Third Schedule to the Report, which shall form the basis for the County Government Additional Allocations Bill for the FY 2025/2026.