Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang’o/FILEIsiolo County achieved the highest absorption rate of its approved development budget in first three months of the current financial year.
A report of the Controller of Budget put Isiolo’s absorption at 15 per cent, which was followed by Kirinyaga County at seven per cent, and Machakos, Mandera, Murang’a, Kitui and Makueni counties, each attaining five per cent.
Conversely, 20 counties reported zero absorption on development expenditure according to first-quarter County Budget Implementation Review Report (CBIRR) for FY 2025/26, covering the period from July 2025 to September 2025.
The counties include Kericho, Tana River, Turkana, Bomet, Siaya, Trans Nzoia, Baringo, Kilifi, Kwale, Kajiado, Kisumu, Mombasa, Vihiga, Busia, West Pokot, Bungoma, Uasin Gishu, Wajir, Laikipia and Kisii.
According to Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang’o, county governments’ recurrent expenditure during the period under review amounted to Sh51.47 billion.
The expenditure comprised Sh43.70 billion (85 per cent) on compensation to employees and Sh7.76 billion (15 per cent) on operations and maintenance.
The Controller of Budget authorised the withdrawal of Sh54.25 billion from the County Revenue Fund (CRF) accounts to the County Operational Accounts for the County Governments.
Of this amount, Sh50.55 billion (93 per cent) was for recurrent activities, and Sh3.70 billion (7 per cent) was for development activities.
The county governments’ cumulative expenditure in the period under review amounted to Sh55.15 billion.
This expenditure consisted of Sh51.46 billion (93 per cent) for recurrent activities and Sh3.69 billion (7 per cent) for development activities.
The total available funds to the County Governments in the first quarter of FY 2025/26 amounted to Sh107.27 billion.
This amount comprised of Sh66.13 billion as equitable share of revenue raised nationally, which was authorised for withdrawal from Consolidated Fund to respective County Revenue Funds (CRF) accounts by the Controller of Budget (CoB) in line with Article 206(4) of the constitution; Sh26.32 billion as cash balances brought forward from FY 2024/25; and Sh13.94 billion as revenue generated from own source revenue, which included Facility Improvement Fund (FIF)/Appropriation in Aid (A-I-A) of Sh5.45 billion.
During the reporting period, the County Governments received a total of Kshs.13.94 billion from own revenue sources, which accounted for 15 per cent of the annual own revenue target of Sh93.89 billion.
This represented an increase of 10 per cent compared to a similar period of FY 2024/25, when the County Governments cumulatively received a total of Sh12.68 billion.
During the reporting period, the Controller of Budget identified several challenges that hindered effective budget execution.
They include , including delay in submission of County Appropriation Acts, Budget Books, and Governors’ Warrants for FY 2025/26 to the Controller of Budget, delay by the Parliament to enact the Governments Additional Allocations Bill 2025, delay by the National Treasury to disburse the Equitable Share of Revenue raised nationally, underperformance in Own-Source revenue collection, increased overdependence on funding from Facility Improvement Financing, high levels of trade payables and low expenditure on development programmes.
