Nairobi among 10 counties that did not spend a penny on development projects

Governor Johnson Sakaja's Nairobi County is among ten counties that did not spend a penny on development in the first quarter of the current financial year.

During the period under review, the 47 devolved units spent Ksh.60.3 billion on salaries and allowances and a paltry Ksh.6.9 billion on development, representing a paltry 3.7 per cent of the total allocation.

The ten counties, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o says, diverted all the allocated funds to paying salaries and allowances and running operations.

She has similarly expressed concern regarding governors who have deprived their constituents of development initiatives.

Nairobi County is one of the counties that is on the Controller of Budget's radar for spending ksh.0 on development despite an allocation of ksh.14 billion.

According to the Treasury-based office, a huge chunk of the monies were re-chaneled to paying salaries and allowances and financing county operations and maintenance.

Nyakang'o's report shows that Nairobi County, used Ksh.176 million in four months for domestic travel, Ksh.11.9 million on foreign trips, Ksh.51.8 million on fuel alone and Ksh.28 million on hospitality.

Other counties that also recorded zero development include, Embu, Homa Bay, Kericho, Kilifi, Machakos, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir and West Pokot.

The Controller of Budget on the other hand ranked Narok Governor Patrick Ole Ntutu as the top governor in financing development projects, sinking Ksh.1.3 billion in four months which translates to 30 percent of the county's allocation.

His Bomet counterpart Hillary Barchok came in second spending 17 percent on development.

Uasin Gishu, Vihiga and Garissa counties all spent below 15% of their monies in development.

The Controller of Budget also raised concerns over own source revenue collection. Out of a target of Ksh.78.6 billion, the 47 counties collected only ksh.10.6 billion translating to 13 percent.

This was attributed to leakages in revenue collection and management as most of the collected monies are not banked as per the law.

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga and his counterparts Patrick Ole Ntutu (Narok) and Abdi Guyo of Isiolo led the top three collectors of own-source revenue.

Machakos County collected only 2.6 percent of her target while Nandi, Kericho, Lamu, Kajiado and Kakamega formed the list of the bottom ten on own in revenue collection.