The Controller of Budget (CoB) approved the use of Sh14.6 trillion by the national and county governments over the past three years, with a new report shedding light on how taxpayer funds were spent.
CoB Margaret Nyakang’o approved the withdrawal of the funds from the Consolidated Fund, which is the government’s official account, and the 47 County Revenue Funds (CRFs) through over 33,000 requests between July 2023 and June 2026.
Of the Sh14.6trn that Dr Nyakang’o approved to be withdrawn from official government accounts, only Sh1.47trn was meant for development projects, with Sh13.17 trillion used to pay salaries, debts and other recurrent activities, shows her 2027/28 - 2029/30 medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) report.
“Over the MTEF period, 1,799 requisitions to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund were submitted to the COB. All these requisitions were processed, and approval for withdrawal was granted,” Dr Nyakang’o says in the report that covers both the national and county governments.
By law, the CoB must approve any withdrawal of funds from the national and county governments’ official accounts before spending happens.
Dr Nyakang’o approved the withdrawal of the highest amount of Sh6.69 trillion in the year to June 2026, Sh4.06 trillion the previous year, and Sh3.89 trillion in 2023/2024.
Approval trends for the three years show that much of the public funds have been used to finance recurrent activities, majorly paying salaries and allowances, facilitating travels for public servants and funding office operations.
The national and county governments got approvals to spend Sh7.57 trillion on such recurrent activities during the three years, more than half of the total amount Dr Nyakang’o allowed to be spent from official accounts.
This was followed by approvals for withdrawal of Sh5.59 trillion for use under Consolidated Fund Services (CFS), the account through which the national government pays maturing public debts and debt interest, and pensions.
“In the Medium-Term Period, from Financial Year 2023/24 to FY 2025/26, cumulative requisitions from the consolidated fund amounted to Sh14.4 trillion. On average, the consolidated fund requisitions were processed within a day,” the CoB stated.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
The CoB approves cash meant for use by counties on two levels: first by allowing transfer of the equitable share of revenues from the consolidated fund to different CRFs, then to counties’ operational accounts.
Over the three years, she approved the withdrawal of Sh1.19 trillion in equitable share from the consolidated fund to CRFs, then made a final approval for withdrawal of Sh1.43 trillion from the 47 CRFs to different counties’ operational accounts.
The Sh1.43 trillion sums the equitable share of revenues from the national government with counties’ own-source revenues.
Counties made 31,517 requests to withdraw funds from their official accounts to operational accounts, most of which (12,276) were made in the 2025/2026 fiscal year.
“However, 606 of these requisitions were declined for various reasons including inappropriate templates inconsistent with established exchequer guidelines, payments processed to the IB Level in bulk rather than directly to the beneficiaries' accounts, non-adherence to pending bills payment plan, non-deduction of applicable withholding taxes, administration costs for the county-established Funds exceeding the 3 per cent threshold required by PFM Regulations, and First In First Out criteria not followed in the settlement of pending bills,” Dr Nyakang’o noted.
While the COB approvals for withdrawal of funds from the government’s official accounts reflects, to a large extent, how taxpayer money was spent over the three years, actual expenditures always differ by small margins since some agencies don’t end up spending all the approved amounts.
The approvals, however, provide indications of where most of the public funds are spent, in the case of the past three years being on recurrent activities and debt service.
In the last financial year, 2025/2026, the CoB reckoned in the budget implementation report that she authorised withdrawal of Sh493 billion from CRFs to county operational accounts.
“County governments spent a total of Sh496.58 billion in the Financial Year 2025/26, comprising Sh369.89 billion for recurrent activities and Sh126.69 billion for development activities,” Dr Nyakang’o said.
The cash CoB approves for withdrawal from CRFs for different uses has always been less of what has been available in the accounts, falling short by about Sh61 billion in 2024/25 and Sh41 billion in 2023/24, for instance.
