Weak fiscal discipline in counties as 43 governors spend public funds on unapproved uses
The report shows only Lamu, Mandera, Taita Taveta, and West Pokot counties adhered to their approved work plans. The rest did not use the funds as indicated when seeking approval.
Governors from 43 counties withdrew funds from county revenue accounts for approved purposes but later spent the money on other uses, a new report by the Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o shows.
The report on counties’ budget implementation between July and December 2024 shows only Lamu, Mandera, Taita Taveta, and West Pokot counties adhered to their approved work plans. The rest did not use the funds as indicated when seeking approval.
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“While the approved requests for withdrawals from the relevant CRFs are well supported, the CoB has noted frequent non-adherence to the Exchequer work plans by county governments, which results in weak fiscal discipline,” Nyakang’o said.
Counties are required to submit documents justifying their requests to withdraw money, detailing how the funds will be used. This includes payrolls for salaries and project details for development expenditures.
Money redirected
However, the report notes that despite submitting proper documentation for approval, counties often redirected the money elsewhere after withdrawing it.
“Further, given that the exchequer process is mainly manual, it is challenging to tie approved requests and supporting work plans to actual expenditures,” Nyakang’o noted.
During the six months, all 47 counties sought approval to withdraw Sh182.05 billion from their respective county revenue funds. However, their reported expenditures for the same period amounted to Sh184.83 billion.
The CoB approved Sh150.22 billion for recurrent spending, but counties ended up spending Sh151.26 billion.
For development, counties received approval to withdraw Sh31.82 billion but reported spending Sh33.56 billion.
The report does not clarify how counties spent more than what was approved or whether these figures include balances carried over from the previous financial year.
In Nairobi, for instance, Governor Johnson Sakaja requested Sh13.7 billion but had spent Sh13.67 billion by the end of December.
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