The average highest sitting allowance received by Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) dropped below Sh100,000 in the nine months to March this year, even as the devolved units struggled to finance development projects amid a biting cash crunch.
Official data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) shows that MCAs in Vihiga and Homa Bay counties got the average highest take home at Sh92,352 and Sh84,978 on average, respectively, compared to the same period of last year when MCAs in Baringo, Embu and Kakamega topped the scale with Sh162,843, Sh145,827 and Sh100,282, respectively.
Sitting allowances for MCAs constitute a major budget item for counties, squeezing funds that could be used to fund critical services such as health and development projects.
But despite the drop in average earnings for the MCAs, counties spent Sh1.08 billion on the allowances, which was 55 per cent of the approved budget in the 2024/25 year, an increase from 54 per cent used in the first nine months to March 2024.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“Analysis of development expenditure as a proportion of the approved annual development budget showed that thirty-six county governments had an absorption rate of 30 per cent and below for their development programs, and no county government had a development absorption of over 50 per cent,” Margaret Nyakango, the CoB says in the latest report.
MCAs earn Sh3,900 for a committee sitting, which is capped at Sh62,400 per month. Chairpersons of the committees get Sh6,500 per session with a cap of Sh104,000 per month while the vice-chairs are paid Sh5,200 for every session with a monthly limit of Sh83,200.
The data shows that counties where MCAs pocketed more than Sh70,000 on average grew to eight in the nine months to March this year from five in the same period that ended in March 2024. MCAs in Baringo, Makueni, Kisii, and Wajir closed the list of the six-highest earners with an average of Sh84,910, Sh81,145, Sh79,814, and Sh76,607. Their colleagues in Kiambu and Kakamega pocketed an average of Sh74,565 and Sh72,758 in the nine months to March this year.
Those in Busia, Mandera, and Uasin Gishu counties earned the lowest amounts as sitting allowances with an average of Sh9,955, Sh15,549, and Sh18,825 respectively in the review period. There are 2,218 elected and nominated MCAs across the 47 counties as at March this year, up from the 2,215 in March 2024.
Besides sitting allowances, MCAs like other elected leaders also use per diem allowances to fatten their monthly pay, a move that has in recent years sparked public outrage over the heavy spending by elected leaders with little to show with regard to development projects.
Ward representatives also earned Sh5,000 for every plenary session but the Salaries and Remuneration Commission scrapped this allowance in July 2022.
Sitting allowances offer MCAs an opportunity to inflate their monthly take-homes pushing them to the league of high-earners such as senior roles in the corporate world, in a country where heavy expenditure on elected leaders continues to deny Kenyans money for development projects.
