Controller of Budget reveals billions mismanaged as counties ignore budget rules
Only seven counties — West Pokot, Taita Taveta, Nairobi, Mandera, Lamu, Kitui, and Embu fully adhered to their approved budgets.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o has revealed widespread financial mismanagement in county governments, exposing how public funds are being handled with impunity.
Nyakang’o’s report highlights cases where counties are spending beyond approved budgets, diverting funds meant for specific programmes, and failing to adhere to financial regulations.
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Some counties have even secured funds only to leave them idle in their accounts, delaying critical projects.
One such county is Kakamega.
“The county reported that expenditures in some departments exceeded the amounts released by the exchequer. This situation arose due to the diversion of funds from the exchequer work plans submitted to the OCoB,” the report states about Kakamega County.
The report, which covers the first half of the financial year, reveals that 16 counties spent beyond their approved limits.
Bungoma spent Sh5.12 billion against an approved Sh4.72 billion (109 per cent), Homa Bay used Sh4.37 billion instead of Sh4.25 billion (103 per cent), and Kilifi spent Sh6.13 billion against Sh5.11 billion (120 per cent). Others include Kwale (114 per cent), Machakos (125 per cent), Makueni (138 per cent), and Turkana (123 per cent).
“Analysis of expenditure against exchequer issues shows that the county does not adhere to the exchequer requisitions work plans during expenditure, leading to the diversion of funds across departments,” the report states about Kilifi.
Manual exchequer process
The report also notes that some counties have been exploiting the manual exchequer process to redirect funds, making it difficult to track expenditures accurately.
“Given that the exchequer process is mainly manual, it is challenging to tie approved requests and supporting work plans to actual expenditures,” the report states.
Nyakang’o explained that the overspending suggests counties are not depositing all their revenues into official accounts before requesting funds from her office, a practice she termed illegal and risky.
“The law requires the counties to bank all the monies they receive. After that, they are supposed to make requisitions to my office for the withdrawal of that money,” Nyakang’o said.
“It is a legal requirement for accountability because we know what has come in and what has gone out and for what reasons,” she added.
Another issue raised is the diversion of funds meant for pending bills, leading to a growing debt crisis. By December 31 last year, pending bills owed by counties had reached Sh182.13 billion.
“Several county governments did not adhere to their submitted plans while paying pending bills,” Nyakang’o said.
Only seven counties — West Pokot, Taita Taveta, Nairobi, Mandera, Lamu, Kitui, and Embu fully adhered to their approved budgets. The rest either overspent or left large sums unutilized in their accounts.
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