Kitui, Kajiado lead as counties splash millions on domestic, foreign workshops

The report reveals that preferred foreign destinations for globetrotting county officers are the US, United Kingdom (UK) and the Middle East, while Tanzania tops on the continent.

Kitui County blew more than Sh106 million on domestic travel, with the County Assembly spending Sh38.57 million and County Executive Sh68.10 million.

Kajiado, Kakamega travels

Kajiado County spent Sh89.9 million on domestic travel, comprising Sh43.81 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh46.17 million by the County Executive. On the other hand, foreign travel expenditure amounted to Sh3.49 million, which was entirely spent by the County Assembly.

Six county assembly officers who traveled to Ghana for a workshop on Hansard Association conference between August 11 and 16 spent Sh1.67 million. Another team of two that went to Singapore for a week for a workshop on financial management and oversight in July spent Sh1.25 million. In a separate trip, an official went to Russia for a workshop on the Kenya legislative caucus between July 13 and 21, 2025, spending Sh532,068.

Kakamega County ranked third with Sh75 million spent on domestic travel with the county assembly accounting for Sh70.45 million and Sh4.62 million by the County Executive.

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh12.18 million comprising Sh11.94 million by the Assembly and Sh239,437 by the Executive for East Africa Local Authorities Sports and Cultural Association (EALASCA) games in Kampala, Uganda.

No travels in Nairobi, Siaya and more

On the flipside, some eight counties did not engage in either domestic or foreign travels during the period under review. The counties include Baringo, Garissa, Nairobi, Narok, Nyandarua, Siaya, Trans Nzoia, and Turkana.

The county governments budget implementation review report released on Monday did not have travel data for Kilifi, Elgeyo Marakwet and Wajir Counties.

In the fiscal year ended June 2019, the Ministry of Devolution moved in to reduce wasteful spending in government by implementing measures requiring MCAs across the 47 counties to get approvals ahead of foreign travels.

The MCAs had to show benefits of the tour to the county, invitation letters, total cost including visa fees, airfare and accommodation as well as a detailed report after trips before gaining any approval.

This is after the National Government identified travel expenditure as a key avenue of pilferage of public funds by ward reps.

The measure seems to have borne some fruit with domestic travel expenditure accounting for the lion’s share of travel expenditure by counties.

Samburu County was also one of the high spenders spending Sh77.24 million on domestic travel with the county assembly reporting Sh56 million and the Executive Sh21.21 million.

Nyeri County spent Sh70.1 million on domestic travel with Sh43.45 million spent by the Assembly and Sh26.7 million by the Executive. There was no foreign travel for either the Executive or the Assembly during the period under review.

Kiambu County also only recorded domestic travel expenditure of Sh56.94 million, with the Assembly accounting for the lion’s share of Sh42.80 million and the Executive Sh14.14 million.

Vihiga County reported Sh45.7 million as expenditure on domestic travel and Sh10.1 million on foreign travel. However, the County Executive and the Assembly did not provide additional information on the particulars of the foreign travel.

Busia County spent Sh47 million on domestic travel with the assembly accounting for Sh22.48 million and the Executive Sh24.61 million.

Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh3.22 million some four county executive officers travelled to New York for more than 45 days between July 1 and August 15 for the UN General Assembly meeting spending Sh2 million in the process. Interestingly, the same county did not spend anything on development programmes.

Lamu, West Pokot and Nyamira

The Lamu County Assembly spent Sh26.1 million on domestic travel and another Sh16.8 million on foreign travel when 29 assembly officers went to Tanzania for a workshop on gender mainstreaming and institutional effectiveness between August 2 and 15 and again between August 16 and 29.

West Pokot County’s expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh42.04 million with the assembly blowing up Sh39.13 million and Sh2.92 million by the Executive.

Nyamira County reported Sh42.83 million on domestic travel while Bomet County's expenditure totaled Sh38.52 million.

For Bomet, expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh17.88 million incurred by the County Assembly when a team of 25 officers travelled to Angola between September 13 and 23, 2025.

Homa Bay County spent Sh36.8 million on domestic travel, all of which was incurred by the County Assembly.

Taita Taveta County reported Sh31.65 million on domestic travel while the expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh0.21 million and was incurred by a county executive who traveled to Kigali, Rwanda for a vaccinology course.

Migori County spent Sh31.60 million on domestic travel while foreign travel expenditure amounted to Sh3.17 million when a team from the Executive went to the USA to attend a national business league conference and another conference in the UK.

Uasin Gishu County reported Sh31.4 million as domestic travel expenditure, while Kisii County spent Sh30.86 million on domestic travel, spent by the County Assembly, with no expenditure on foreign travel.

For Kericho County, expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Sh29.66 million, incurred entirely by the County Assembly, while foreign travel expenditure was Sh3.26 million incurred entirely by the County Assembly when a team of three officers traveled to the United Kingdom between September 14 and 19 for a legislative summit.

Kwale County had Sh28 million as domestic travel expenditure with the County Executive accounting for Sh24 million, while Kisumu County reported an expenditure of Sh21.7 million on domestic travel and Sh3 million on foreign travel by county executive officers traveling to Doha, Qatar; Accra in Ghana, and New York and Georgia in USA.

Nakuru County spent Sh16.95 million on domestic travel and Sh11.9 million on foreign travel, entirely by the County Assembly visiting Ghana, Tanzania and Rwanda on various dates.

Isiolo County reported Sh27.5 million as expenditure on domestic travel with the assembly accounting for Sh26.46 million. Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Sh5.30 million all by the County Assembly.

Laikipia County spent Sh14.8 million on domestic travel, spent by the County Assembly and Sh12.1 million on foreign travel also by the Assembly where 29 county assembly officers went to Tanzania for training between September 7 and 13, 2025.

Makueni County spent Sh23 million on domestic travel, Tana River Sh24.9 million on domestic travel by the County Assembly, while Machakos reported spending Sh22.3 million on domestic travel, exclusively for the County Assembly.

The Machakos County assembly further spent Sh3.10 million on foreign travel with some of the travels including attending an Internet governance forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a symposium in Birmingham City in UK, capacity building and study tour in Tanzania.

Embu County had Sh22 million as domestic travel expenditure comprising Sh15.85 million spent by the County Assembly and Sh6.22 million by the County Executive. There was no expenditure on foreign travel in the reporting period.

Bungoma County reported spending Sh20 million on domestic travel and Sh0.39 million by the County Assembly when a team of five officers went to Uganda for the second Umukuuka 111 Royal Anniversary dinner between August 29 and 30, 2025 spending Sh388,759.

Counties that reported less than Sh20 million are Kirinyaga County Sh15.3 million on domestic travel, Murang’a County Sh16.4 million, Nandi with Sh13.35 million on domestic travel and Sh5.99 million on foreign travel, and Tharaka Nithi spending Sh14.2 million on domestic travel.

Mombasa County spent Sh13.1 million on domestic travel and Sh1.95 million by the County Executive on foreign travel to attend UNGA sessions and a visit to Jospong Group of companies, Ghana.

Least spenders included Mandera County with Sh8.29 million, incurred by the County Executive on domestic travel, Meru County with Sh2.55 million on domestic travel, and Marsabit Sh0.80 million on domestic travel incurred by the County Assembly.

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