Kisii, Nairobi, Machakos counties spent below 4% of budget on development - Report

Development continues to suffer in counties as the latest report by the Controller of Budget shows that some counties spend as little as 2.9% of their budget on development.

According to the Budget Implementation Review Report, 21 counties spend less than 10% of their budget on development while a huge chunk of the budget, 60%, is consumed on salaries and wages.

According to Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, Kisii County spends the least on development, consuming only 2.9% of its budget, followed by Nairobi (3.3%), Machakos (3.5%), Taita Taveta (4.4%), Samburu (5.2%), Nyeri (6.4%), and Baringo (5.8%).

Spending by other counties was as follows; West Pokot (8.7%), Nyandarua (7.0%), Makueni (7.1%), Meru (9.8%), and Kericho (7.6%).

“The development expenditure during the period under review amounted to Ksh.24.81 billion translating to an absorption rate of 12.2 per cent of the annual FY 2023-24 development budget of Ksh.203.11 billion,” the report states.

On the other hand, Narok, Bomet, Uasin Gishu, Laikipia and Marsabit counties had the highest absorption rates of their respective approved development budgets at 52.4%, 27.1%, 27%, 22.5%, and 21.7% respectively.

The report revealed that counties spent Ksh.98.13 billion or 58 per cent of their revenues on personnel emoluments in FY 2023-24, compared to Ksh.94.81 billion spent in a similar period in FY 2022-23.

The report also raised eyebrows on emolument expenditure as Ksh.7.06 billion of the payrolls were processed manually and outside the government payroll system, accounting for 7 per cent of the total wage bills.

“This contradicts the government policy that requires salaries to be processed through the IPPD system. The manual payroll is prone to abuse and may lead to the loss of public funds where there is a lack of proper controls,” Nyakang’o said.

According to the report, Nairobi County led the way in expenditure on salaries emoluments, absorbing Ksh.7.49 billion of their total expenditure of Ksh.10.81 billion on personnel emolument, while Nakuru County spent Ksh.3.63 billion on wages and salaries out of total expenditure of Ksh.7.04 billion.

Machakos County spent Ksh.3.3 billion, Turkana (Ksh.3.03 billion), Kitui (Ksh.2.96 billion), Baringo (Ksh.3.83 billion), and Kiambu (Ksh.3.68 billion).