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Counties sunk billions of shillings in non-priority projects — such as large sums on sitting allowances for MCAs, domestic and foreign travel, car loans and mortgages and landscaping and beautification of buildings.

Among the most ridiculous expenses were millions of shillings spent on locust emergencies that could not be clearly accounted for. Others were high costs incurred in the renovation of residencies for County Assembly Speakers. Many of the expenses were prioritised over spending on public goods and services, such as upgrade of roads and hospitals and improvement of nursery schools.

The report capturing the counties’ expenditure for the first quarter of the 2023-2024 financial year, and released yesterday by the Controller of Budget, Margaret Nyakang’o, shows that County Assemblies cumulatively spent Sh312.98 million on MCAs’ sitting allowances, an increase of 249.2 per cent compared to Sh89.63 million incurred in a similar period a year earlier.

To their credit, however, the spending was within budget. The red flag was that these large amounts were paid out to individuals without commensurate performance indicators in terms of their development record.

Locusts projects

Says the report: “The cumulative recurrent expenditure during the period under review amounted to Sh60.52 billion, representing 17.5 per cent of the annual County Government’s budget for recurrent activities, an improvement from 16.5 per cent recorded in a similar period of FY 2022/23 when expenditure was Sh52.60 billion.

A further review of the recurrent expenditure indicates that counties incurred Sh41.79 billion (69 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure) on personnel emoluments and Sh18.76 billion (31 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure) on operations and maintenance.”

Baringo county, for instance, spent Sh126 million on its World Bank Emergency Locusts Project and Sh63.3 million on De-Risking and Value Enhancement.

The county also spent Sh19 million on landscaping and beautification of the Speaker’s residential buildings, drilling and equipping of water boreholes at the County Assembly. The Speaker’s residence cost Sh10 million while proposed installation of electric, razor wires and CCTV at the residence cost another Sh10 million.

Commissioning of Hansard System and equipment for the Assembly chambers cost a staggering Sh74.3 million. In contrast, purchase and installation of interior designs of County Assembly chambers cost Sh4.5 million while feasibility studies on project preparation and design for CCTV, boreholes and landscaping gobbled up Sh9 million.

Accountability

Baringo was one the counties most ravaged by drought in the last three dry seasons. To its credit, it spent Sh30 million through its bursary and scholarships fund and Sh23 million as emergency funds. The problem arose when it came to accountability on how the money was spent.

“During the reporting period, the OCoB did not receive quarterly financial returns from Fund Administrators of the Baringo County Executive Car Loan & House Mortgage Scheme, Baringo County Small & Medium Enterprise Fund, Baringo County Co-operative Development Fund, and Baringo County Community Wildlife Conservation Fund contrary to the requirement of Section 168 of the PFM Act, 2012.”
Essentially, the report casts doubts on how the money was spent without accountability.

Expenditure on domestic travel for the three months between July and September this year, amounted to Sh26.07 million comprising 10.25 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh15.82 million by the Executive.

In Bomet, the County Executive spent Sh41.5 million on Health & Water and Sh22.9 million on nutritional matters while the County Assembly spent Sh3.9 million on committee sitting allowances for the 38 MCAs and the Speaker against an annual budget allocation of Sh24.05 million. On travel expenses, the county spent Sh59.57 million — which comprised Sh27.80 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh31.77 million by the County Executive while on foreign travel the expenditure amounted Sh10.68 million.

In Elgeyo Marakwet, the county spent Sh31.8 million on sports development and Sh27.7 million on Sports Talent Development. On MCA sitting allowances, the Assembly spent Sh4.96 million on sitting allowances for the 33 MCAs and the Speaker against the annual budget allocation of Sh30.99 million.

During the period, expenditure on domestic travel for the county amounted to Sh42.01 million and comprised Sh31.47 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh10.54 million by the County Executive.

Sitting allowances

In Embu, the County Assembly spent Sh12.3 million on committee sitting allowances for the 30 MCAs and the Speaker against the annual budget allocation of Sh86.4 million. During the period, expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh30.15 million and comprised Sh24 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh6.15 million by the County Executive.

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh1.02 million by the County Assembly.
In Garissa, the county spent Sh169.4 million on its emergency locust response project.

The County Assembly spent Sh4.87 million on committee sitting allowances for the 48 MCAs and the Speaker against the annual budget allocation of Sh30 million. During the period, expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh26.31 million and comprised of Sh23.04 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh3.26 million by the County Executive. Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh4.29 million and comprised Sh3.62 million by the County Assembly and Sh670,000 by the County Executive.

The Isiolo County Assembly spent Sh1.04 million on committee sitting allowances for the 18 MCAs and the Speaker against an annual budget allocation of Sh10.5 million. During the period, expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh75.51 million and comprised Sh22.9 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh52.61 million by the County Executive.

Kajiado spent Sh50 million on the Executive’s car loan and mortgage and Sh10 million on liquor fund. The County Assembly spent Sh6.12 million on committee sitting allowances for the 42 MCAs and the Speaker against the annual budget allocation of Sh47.47 million.

During the period, expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh124.37 million and comprised Sh47.60 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh76.67 million by the County Executive. There was no foreign expenditure reported during the period.

Kiambu County spent a staggering Sh82 million on alcoholic drinks control fund, a whopping Sh112. 5 million on the County’s Executive’s car loan and mortgage scheme fund, while the climate fund got Sh256 million. The County Assembly spent Sh18.9 million on committee sitting allowances for the 89 MCAs and the Speaker against the annual budget allocation of Sh50 million. The average monthly sitting allowance was Sh70,930 per MCA.

In Kilifi, the County Assembly spent Sh8.3 million on committee sitting allowances for the 56 MCAs and the Speaker against the annual budget allocation of Sh31.95 million.

The average monthly sitting allowance was Sh49,207 per MCA. During the period, expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh48.07 million, which comprised Sh42.92 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh5.15 million by the County Executive.

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh14.4 million and comprised Sh1.1 million by the County Assembly and Sh13.3 million by the County Executive.