Irony of devolution: Some counties blow millions abroad, others spend nothing

The Controller of Budget report has exposed how some counties are splashing hundreds of millions of shillings in foreign travel, as others barely spent a coin on trips abroad.

According to the report by Margaret Nyakang’o, Homa Bay and Nyamira counties didn’t have any expenditure in foreign travel.

In reference to Homa Bay, Nyakang’o said, “Expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh324.85 million and comprised Sh261.06 million spent by the county assembly and Sh63.79 million spent by the county executive.

“The county entities did not incur any expenditure on foreign travel during the reporting period.”

It is the same situation is Nyamira where, while expenditure on domestic travel was Sh186.4 million, no expenditure on foreign travel was reported during the period under review.

The report also did not indicate any foreign travel expenditure in Kirinyaga and Isiolo counties.

Other counties kept their foreign travel expenditure less that Sh10 million, with Siaya spending only Sh4.8 million and Garissa Sh6.3 million, which was used by the county assembly.

The Siaya foreign travel only comprised a trip by three county executive officials to Vienna for capacity building, which cost Sh1.6 million, and a trip to the East African Local Authorities Sports and Cultural Association games in Uganda for 13 MCAs, costing Sh3.2 million.

On the other hand, counties such as Nairobi, Machakos, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kiambu, Kisumu and Lamu splashed more than Sh70 million in foreign trips for MCAs and county executive officials.

Nairobi foreign travel spending amounted to Sh232.95 million, comprising Sh114.52 million by the assembly and Sh118.44 million by the executive.

This is in addition to the considerable amount spent on domestic travel: Sh630.4 million (Sh271.28 million by the assembly and Sh359.07 million by the executive).

Kisumu spent Sh78.3 million in addition to a domestic travel bill that amounted to Sh413.17 million, comprising Sh215.2 million spent by the assembly and Sh199 million by the executive.

The foreign travel spending comprised Sh41.3 million by the assembly and Sh37 million by the executive.

Mombasa spent Sh112.2 million, Nakuru Sh83 million, Kitui Sh72 million, Machakos Sh99.2 million and Lamu Sh87.5 million.

Among the top destinations for MCAs and county executives are Addis Ababa, Arusha, Dubai, Singapore and various European capitals.

In Makueni county, while the report indicates Sh31.33 million was used for foreign travel, it further notes that the Sh9.18 million spent by MCAs on foreign travel was a pending bill for the 2023-2024 financial year.

The county Deputy Governor was allocated Sh836,000 as facilitation for allowances while attending the Commission on the Status of Women Conference in New York between March 11 and 22.

In Machakos county, two county executive officers spent Sh3.6 million to attend Utamaduni Celebrations in Dallas between August 20 and 28.

On December 7-16 of the same year, five county executive members spent Sh9.6 million in a trip to Brazil for the Livestock and Food Security Initiative Conference.

The report further shows that popular engagements among county officials and MCAs revolve around workshops, training on leadership and capacity building.

In Laikipia county, for example, the CoB report showed all the foreign travels by the county assembly members, totalling Sh50.4 million, were for “training” purposes.

In Kiambu, the foreign travel expenditure of Sh77.80 million was entirely incurred by the county assembly.

Between October 6 and 12, 21 MCAs from the county spent Sh15.8 million for “training on capacity building for legislators” in Dubai.

In November, 12 MCAs were back in Dubai for the same training, spending Sh7.5 million and another Sh7.2 million for governance and oversight training.

Nyeri county’s foreign travel bill amounted to Sh65.07 million, with a huge chunk of it, Sh58.11 million, used by the county assembly.

Part of the spending was by 18 MCAs who used Sh6.5 million in Arusha, Tanzania, for a study visit to the East African Legislative Assembly to learn some of their practices, “the East African Community structure and its Organs”.

Lamu county, which received the least allocation in the equitable share, emerges as one of the most extravagant counties in foreign trips, spending at Sh87.5 million, more than Kiambu, Nakuru and Kisumu counties.

The expenditure comprised Sh84.95 million by the assembly and Sh2.54 million by the executive.

The report shows some 14 MCAs spent Sh14 million in Dubai for a meeting on the role of the Legislature in influencing government policies programmes between September 7 and 20 last year.

In November last year, the report adds, four MCAs claimed Sh4 million to attend the “capacity building training on public policy designing and management programme” on November 2-17, and three others claimed Sh3.2 million to attend the same forum between November 4 and 15.

In January, 12 MCAs were back in Dubai for capacity building training and spent Sh12 million. Another lot of 13 MCAs was in Dubai in March for yet another capacity building and spent Sh13 million of taxpayers’ money.