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Governors and Members of the County Assemblies spent millions of shillings on foreign and domestic travel, allowances and non-priority items at a time when the cost of living has been skyrocketing, a new report shows.

The report dated February from the Controller of Budget (COB) shows that County Assemblies spent Sh703.62 million on MCAs sitting allowances against an approved budget allocation of Sh2 billion.

The governors with the highest travel expenses include James Orengo (Siaya), Fernandes Barasa (Kakamega), Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri), Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni), Anyang’ Nyong’o (Kisumu) and Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu).

Others are Benjamin Cheboi (Baringo), Ken Lusaka (Bungoma), Hillary Barchok (Bomet), Cecilly Mbarire (Embu), Nadhif Jama (Garissa), Irungu Kang’ata (Murang’a) and Simba Arati (Kisii).

Among the non-priority items include beautification of governor’s offices, purchase of interior designs, benchmarking as well as attending various conferences for personal branding.

The report for the first half of the year shows that counties incurred Sh98.13 billion on personnel emoluments and Sh45.59 billion on operations and maintenance out of which Sh45.59 billion was incurred on operations and maintenance.

Reads the report: “A review of cumulative expenditure by economic classification showed that Ksh.98.13 billion (58.2 per cent) was spent on Personnel Emoluments, Ksh.45.59 billion (27.1 per cent) on Operations and Maintenance, and Ksh.24.81 billion (14.7 per cent) on Development Expenditure.”

The report detailing counties expenditure raises concerns on the absorption of the development budget as the devolved units spent Sh24.81 billion translating to an absorption rate of 12.2 per cent of the annual development budget of Sh 203.11 billion.

Analysis of development expenditure shows that Narok, Bomet, Uasin Gishu, Laikipia and Marsabit counties had the highest absorption rates of their respective approved development budgets at 52.4 per cent, 27.1 per cent, 27.0 per cent, 22.5 percent and 21.7 percent respectively.

Counties that had the lowest absorption rates of their respective development budgets were Elgeyo Marakwet, Mombasa, Machakos, Nairobi City and Kisii at 3.9 per cent, 3.8 per cent, 3.5 per cent, 3.3 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.

Adds the report: “During the reporting period, the Controller of Budget (CoB) noted some cross-cutting challenges which have continued to encumber effective and efficient budget execution by the county governments.”

The report indicates that Nyeri, Narok, Isiolo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Samburu and Turkana counties had the highest percentage of local revenue collected to the annual local revenue target at 71.4 per cent, 63.9 per cent, 62.0 per cent, 56.3 per cent, 55.7 percent and 48.6 percent respectively.

Conversely, counties that had the lowest percentage of local revenue collected to the annual local revenue target included Mandera at 15.3 per cent, Kakamega at 13.7 per cent, Kajiado at 12.8 per cent, Kericho at 12.7 per cent, Kilifi at 10.5 per cent, and Machakos at 7.4 per cent.

Counties that attained the highest overall absorption rates were Baringo at 49.5 per cent, Kitui at 40.6 per cent, Uasin Gishu at 39.8 per cent, Narok at 39.0 per cent, Busia at 37.7 per cent and Nandi at 36.4 per cent while Kakamega, Kwale, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Makueni and Machakos recorded the lowest aggregate absorption rates at 25.4 per cent, 25.2 per cent, 25.2 per cent, 24.9 per cent, 24.4 percent and 24.1 percent respectively

Domestic travel

In the case of Siaya county, the report shows that expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh111.86 million and comprised Sh41.45 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh 70.41 million by the County Executive.

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh13.82 million by the County Executive with the highest foreign travel expenditure being on trade mission to the Islamic Republic of Iran to promote Partnership and Economic Cooperation where Sh3.6 million was spent, participation in the foreign education program in Qatar Sh3.6 million, Intra-African Trade Fair (2023) and third Conference of African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network in Egypt Sh 1.3 million and the participation of the development of Inter-County Network in the Lake Region India Sh 1.6 million.

Reads the report: “Personnel emoluments amounting to Kshs.370.39 million were processed through the manual payroll, accounting for 22.1 per cent of the total payroll cost. The manual payroll is prone to abuse and may lead to the loss of public funds where there is a lack of proper controls.”

At Kiambu county, the report shows that expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh200.75 million and comprised Sh184.02 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh16.73 million by the County Executive.

Residential buildings

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh.51.69 million and comprised Sh50.98 million by the County Assembly and Sh883,037 by the County Executive.

Baringo county’s expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh 214.81 million and comprised Sh 50.09 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh 163.72 million by the County Executive.

The report has also alleged various expenses that are no priority including Landscaping and beautification of Speaker’s residential buildings at Sh19 million, installation of Electric, Razor wires and CCTV at the speaker’s residence Sh10.1 million , drilling and equipping of Water boreholes at County Assembly and Speaker’s residence Sh 10 million, purchase and Installation of interior designs of County Assembly chambers Sh4,526,227 as well as feasibility studies on project preparation and design for CCTV, Boreholes and Landscaping Sh 9 million.

In Kakamega county the report shows that expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh 207.78 million and comprised Sh .97.29 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh 110.49 million by the County Executive.

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh 3.99 million and comprised Sh.2.85 million by the County Assembly and Sh 1.13 million by the County Executive.