Counties blow billions in sitting allowances, luxury vehicles and lavish foreign trips

NAIROBI, KENYA: More than a dozen counties are diverting billions of shillings meant for development to pay sitting allowances, purchase new vehicles and pay for foreign trips. A new progress report by the Controller of Budget on County Implementation has found out that as at March this year, counties such as Nairobi, Kakamega, Kirinyaga, Narok, Busia, and Laikipia had gobbled their personal allowances and overspent on purchase of luxurious vehicles and foreign trips.

Others are Nyeri, Tana River, Kericho and Vihiga counties that spent more to buy cars.

Some of these counties turned to funds meant for development projects to finance the lavish lifestyles of the new sheriffs in town—the members of County Assemblies (MCAs).

This could also explain why some counties spent local revenue at source without the approval from the Controller of Budget. For instance, the 47 counties were allocated Sh3.2 billion for payment of sitting allowances for the members of the County Assembly for the financial year 2013/14.

However, between July 2013 and March 2014, Nairobi, Kakamega, Kirinyaga and Narok counties’ expenditure on MCA sitting allowances exceeded their annual budgetary allocation. For instance, Nairobi City County spent Sh299.8 million on sitting allowances for MCAs against an annual budget of Sh160 million, which translates to absorption rate 187.2 per cent. Also, Kakamega, Kirinyaga and Narok, their expenditure on allowances was higher than the budgetary allocation whose absorption rates were 157.4 per cent, 110.9 per cent and 106.1 per cent, respectively.

Other counties that had the highest expenditure on MCAs sitting allowances were Migori at Sh89.2 million and Kakamega at 82.6 million. Conversely, counties that registered lowest expenditure on the same were Isiolo at Sh3.1 million, Tana River at Sh4.5 million and Lamu at Sh5.5 million.

During the nine months, overall counties spent Sh1.8 billion on MCAs sitting allowances which translates to 55.2 per cent of their budgetary allocation.

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo said an analysis of expenditure on sitting allowances for MCAs shows that there exist huge discrepancies on the payments per individual MCA across the counties. The average sitting allowance per MCA per month ranges from Sh17, 219 in Isiolo County to Sh262, 088 in Nairobi County.

The report also paints a grim picture in which most counties are spending billions for both local and foreign travel. In the financial year 2013/2014, counties allocated Sh9.2 billion for domestic and foreign travel. In the nine months to March 2014, the total expenditure on domestic and foreign travel by counties amounted to Sh4.9 billion which translate to an absorption rate of 53.1 per cent. But, Busia and Laikipia counties spent higher than their annual budgetary allocation.

Busia County spent Sh104.4 million against a budgetary allocation of Sh79.1 million while Laikipia County spent Sh122.8 million against a budgetary allocation of Sh117.1 million. During the first nine months of fiscal year, Machakos County registered the highest expenditure on domestic and foreign travel at Sh201.7 million.

MONIES ALLOCATED

Other counties with high expenditure on domestic and foreign travel were Nakuru and Kajiado at Sh198 million and Sh196.8 million, respectively. Those with the lowest expenditure during the period were Mombasa, Elgeyo-Marakwet and Isiolo at Sh24.4 million, Sh30.8 million and Sh30.83 million, respectively. Early in the week, Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) raised alarm that a number of counties were in a rush to clear funds in their coffers before the end of the financial year with heavy spending directed to foreign travel. In an article published by our sister paper The Standard, CRA chairman Micah Cheserem revealed that county assemblies have ignored both his commission and Controller of Budget directives on budget ceilings, insisting they will apply their own formula in sharing revenue meant for service delivery in the regional governments.

Cheserem named several counties, among them Lamu, Kisumu, Kakamega, Kwale, and Makueni, which are sending large delegations of MCAs to countries in the Far East and America. “What has disturbed us most is that we have been told of huge delegations making trips to ostensibly spend the monies allocated to county assemblies,” Cheserem explained.

He gave example of Makueni where all MCAs are set to tour Singapore. MCAs from Kisumu are headed to Israel, while their counterparts from Kakamega are going to Malaysia. Those from Kwale were Singapore bound, ostensibly on benchmarking sessions. All MCAs from Lamu are also planning a trip to the US later this month. “Many countries have complained diplomatically that they are receiving far too many delegations from Kenya,” Senate Majority Leader Prof Kithure Kindiki said. “With the advancements that the country has made in technology, if you want to find out what other countries are doing you can go to the internet and find out. You don’t have to travel.”

Another area of concern is the amount of money going into buying motor vehicles. Counties allocated Sh8.5 billion for purchase of motor vehicles in 2013/2014 financial year. For the nine-month period to March 2014, counties spent Sh4.7 billion on purchase of motor vehicles which represents 54.9 per cent of their annual budgetary allocation.

However, expenditure on purchase of motor vehicles by four counties namely Nyeri, Tana River, Kericho and Vihiga was above the budgetary allocation for the current financial year.

Nyeri County recorded absorption rate of 169.4 per cent on purchase of motor vehicles while Tana River, Kericho and Vihiga counties recorded absorption rates of 158.6 per cent, 109.2 per cent and 107.9 per cent respectively.

Machakos County registered the highest expenditure on purchase of motor vehicles during the period under review which stood at Sh486.9 million.

Other counties that recorded high expenditure on purchase of motor vehicles were Nairobi City and Turkana at Sh341.8 million and Sh279.2 million respectively. Counties that had the least expenditure on purchase of motor vehicle during the period were Homa bay at Sh9.9 million, Kajiado at Sh11.5 million and Murang’a at Sh13.9 million.