Budget shortfalls stall administrative units in Samburu, Turkana and Baringo - report
According to the Jukwaa la Usalama assessment report, the government’s plan to operationalise all gazetted units has been slowed by funding delays, leaving thousands of residents without essential services.
Remote and conflict-prone regions, including Samburu, Turkana and Baringo, remain without functional administrative units due to budgetary constraints, a new report shows.
According to the Jukwaa la Usalama assessment report, the government’s plan to operationalise all gazetted units has been slowed by funding delays, leaving thousands of residents without essential services.
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The report, released last week, indicates that the Ministry of Interior and National Administration is seeking additional resources to activate the remaining administrative units, with priority given to areas facing persistent security threats.
Despite earlier government commitments to fully operationalise all gazetted units in the 2024/2025 financial year, the assessment notes that financial shortfalls have hampered key steps such as officer recruitment, construction of administrative offices and deployment of the infrastructure needed to make the units functional.
“The operationalisation of gazetted administrative units has encountered budgetary delays, impacting full deployment,” reads the report.
As a result of the stalled rollout, 15 sub-counties, 379 divisions, 1,366 locations and 2,808 sub-locations remain inactive years after being gazetted. This has created administrative dead zones where thousands of citizens lack immediate access to services such as civil registration, conflict resolution and routine public administration.
The National Police Service is among the departments most affected by the delays. At least 110 sub-counties and 741 police stations have no Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIEs), leaving commanders unable to fuel vehicles, procure basic supplies or run operations.
According to the report, the absence of functional administrative units has weakened security surveillance in rural areas and slowed response times to emergencies. Senior officials say the plan to operationalise the units was included in the 2024/2025 budget cycle, but Treasury constraints and competing national priorities resulted in substantial underfunding.
Counties with vast and hard-to-reach terrain, including Samburu, Turkana, Baringo and several parts of the North Rift, remain the most affected. The inactivity of units forces pastoralist communities to travel long distances to reach chiefs, assistant chiefs or police stations. In high-risk areas, the lack of staff and infrastructure within sub-counties has contributed to slower responses during security incidents.
The report was released three weeks after President William Ruto announced the creation of three new sub-counties in Samburu in an effort to strengthen security coordination in remote areas. The new sub-counties include Nyiro in Samburu North, Waso in Samburu East and Loosuk in Samburu West, which is already gazetted.
“We have resolved to create new administrative units here in Waso and Nyiro to bring services closer to pastoralists,” Ruto said.
In August, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen also unveiled State's plans to establish additional police stations in banditry-prone areas of Samburu to curb recurrent bandit attacks and cattle rustling.
Some of the units that remain non-operational include Ilret in Marsabit, Engineer in Nyandarua, Baringo West (headquartered in Barwesa), Tiaty Central, Chemolingot and Sericho in Oldonyiro, Isiolo.
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