Counties With Lowest Expenditure on Development - Controller of Budget

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o has raised concern over the low absorption of the development budget by some county governments.

In her report covering the first half of the 2024/2025 budget, Nyakang'o detailed that some counties had low absorption rates of less than 10 per cent.

The affected counties included Baringo and Tana River each at 7 per cent, followed by Taita-Taveta, Kisumu, Nairobi City and Nyeri each at 6 per cent.

Elgeyo-Marakwet, Lamu, Nakuru, and Kitui counties had an absorption rate of 5 per cent.

"During the reporting period, County Governments spent Ksh33.60 billion on development activities, representing an absorption rate of only 16 per cent against the annual development budget of Ksh211.53 billion," read the report in part.

"Analysis of development expenditure as a proportion of the approved annual development budget showed that several County Governments had an absorption rate of less than 10 per cent for their development programs."

Consequently, the CoB encouraged county governments to prioritise expenditures on development.

"County Governments must prioritise development expenditures to comply with the statutory requirement of allocating at least 30 per cent of the budget to development activities, as stipulated in the PFM Act 2012," she wrote.

"Robust project planning, monitoring, and implementation mechanisms should be adopted to improve the absorption rate of development funds and enhance the country’s development."

Conversely, some counties had high levels of development budget absorption with Mandera and Narok being recognised to be leading.

"Mandera County achieved the highest absorption rate of their approved development budget at 32 per cent, followed by Narok County at 30 per cent, Garissa County at 28 per cent, Uasin Gishu County at 27 per cent and Marsabit County at 26 per cent," read the report in part.