At least eight governors spent more than 10 per cent of their county budgets for the period between July and September 2023 to run their offices, a report by the Controller of Budget has revealed.
In total, 10 governors either spent more than 10 per cent of their quarter one budgets, or more than Sh100 million, to run their offices. This saw the counties splash Sh2.16 billion (16.1 percent) of their total spending of Sh13.4 billion on their offices.
The offices were funded through budget lines termed “Governor’s office, Governor and Deputy Governor’s office, County Executive services, Governance, Administration and Public Service or Headquarters Administration”.
Most of the governors who allocated hundreds of millions of shillings to the operations of their offices did so at the expense of development for their residents, the report revealed.
In Baringo, the Governor’s office was allocated a total of Sh760.49 million during the three months. The office, however, has other functions including paying salaries of the county employees, public service, administration, devolution and ICT.
A look at the county’s budget execution by programmes and sub-programmes showed that Governor Benjamin Cheboi used Sh7.49 million to run his office, while Sh31,500 was used to run his deputy’s.
A sum of Sh511 million under the Governor’s office budget was used for “general administration, salaries and operations, the COB report indicated.
“Expenditure analysis by economic classification indicates that the County Executive spent Sh747.83 million on employee compensation, Sh103.76 million on operations and maintenance, and Sh21.95 million on development activities,” Dr Nyakang’o reported.
The department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Management and the County Public Service Board did not report any expenditure, the report added.
Kitui Governor Julius Malombe spent Sh382.43 million to run his office, which constituted 20.4 per cent of the Sh1.87 billion the executive spent, emerging the second highest spender.
Mr Malombe’s spending to run his office was six times more than the entire spending on the county’s development programmes.
With a spending of Sh170.8 million to run his office, Nandi Governor Stephen Sang also had a heavy focus on operations of his office, allocating Sh122.8 million to development.
The spending on the governor’s office constituted 12.3 per cent of the Sh1.39 billion the executive spent during the quarter. For an agricultural county, Mr Sang ironically spent more to run his office than the Sh106 million he spent on agriculture.
Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika spent Sh127.68 million to run her office and her deputy’s, exceeding the county’s spending on agriculture, lands and trade sectors combined.
Other governors with spending to run their offices exceeding Sh100 million were Mohamed Adan Khalif of Mandera (Sh115.65 million) and Gladys Wanga of Homa Bay (Sh109.42 million). While Marsabit County did not have an explicit budget for the governor’s office, it spent Sh102.47 million on “County Executive services”.
As these governors spent extravagantly in funding what largely constitutes recurrent activities such as supplies to offices, hospitality luxuries and other operations, 18 others spent less than 3 per cent.
Some 18 governors spent Sh442.8 million to run their offices, out of the Sh27.9 billion they collectively spent to run their respective county executives, an average of 1.6 per cent spending, the report revealed.
Kwale (0.4 per cent), Vihiga (1.8 per cent), Turkana (1.12 per cent), Siaya (1.8 per cent), Nairobi and Kakamega (1 per cent), Meru (1.7 per cent), Machakos (1.55 per cent) and Laikipia (1.2 per cent), spent less than 2 per cent of their one budgets to run their offices.
Overall, 46 counties reported spending Sh3.4 billion to fund governor and deputy governor’s offices. On the other hand, all the 47 counties spent a total of Sh6.9 billion on development activities.
