Benchmarking and training became the foundation on which 41 counties built an ever-roving sky team, blowing Sh822 million on foreign trips in six months, against austerity measures demanded by President William Ruto two years ago.
A new Controller of Budget report shows that Lamu County, the biggest spender, used Sh65.4 million to send its bureaucrats to Arusha on five different occasions, for trainings on oversight and accountability.
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Illustrated by Geoffrey Onyambu | Source: Controller of Budget
Interestingly, the expenditure is some Sh23 million more than what the Executive – which the assembly oversees – spent on development activities (Sh41.6 million) during the same period.
The report shows that only Homa Bay, Kwale, Isiolo, Siaya, Mandera, and Muranga Counties did not incur any expenditure on foreign travel in the six-month period.
The report by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o revealed that county assemblies led in the foreign binge, incurring more than Sh511 million, or over 62 percent of the travel spend, in the six months.
Governors on their part spent over Sh310 million flying to foreign countries, with the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Arusha becoming top destinations for bureaucrats in devolved units.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
MCAs from Lamu, Meru, Nakuru, Bomet and Tana River were the most travelled tourists, making multiple trips across the globe.
Meru County Assembly blew up Sh63.72 million making 18 foreign trips to Arusha (four times), Dubai (eight times), Germany, Turkey, Singapore (twice), Uganda, and Ethiopia.
Nakuru County Assembly spent Sh47.7 million on foreign trips visiting Tanzania (eight times) and Singapore (twice) for training between August and October 2025.
Bomet County Assembly spent Sh31.66 million visiting Angola, Brazil, Australia, Zanzibar and Spain and France.
For their part, Tana River County Assembly blew up Sh30.57 million on foreign travel visiting Dubai for a leadership and governance Conference, attending the Africa Development Conference and Awards in Ethiopia and India (twice) and Uganda.
The alarming revelations are contained in the county governments budget implementation review report for the first half of the financial year ending June 30, 2026.
The foreign splurge continues to gobble millions of shillings from county coffers despite the devolved units often citing financial constraints affecting service delivery to the people.
Counties often agitate for more resources to be sent their way where in the coming financial year, Council of Governors are pushing for more than Sh530 billion to be allocated to devolved units as equitable revenue share.
On the other hand, county assemblies have been constant visitors to the Senate's Finance and Budget committee pushing for upward adjustment of their ceilings as well as demanding for financial autonomy.
Nyeri County Assembly incurred Sh26.5 million on foreign trips visiting Arusha on various dates between September and October 2025.
In September, four officers attended a training session for adults in scouting for a week, another 46 officers spent a week attending a training on budget implementation, monitoring, and oversight for county assemblies blowing up Sh16.6 million.
As if not enough, a contingent of 26 officers made yet another trip to Arusha for a tour of the East African Legislative Assembly for 10 days gobbling up Sh8.7 million of taxpayers’ money.
Laikipia County Assembly spent Sh24.67 million on foreign travel visiting Tanzania twice for training, while Kitui Assembly incurred Sh16.85 million visiting Arusha three times between October and November 2025.
Five trips to USA and South Korea
Trans Nzoia County Assembly spent Sh18.1 million on some eight trips to Addis Ababa, twice to Istanbul and Australia and another in London, UK.
Kajiado County Assembly spent Sh14.96 million on trips to Dubai, Turkey, Norway, Russia, Singapore and Ghana for training and conference, while Garissa County Assembly spent Sh10.08 million visiting Kigali, Istanbul, Canada and Italy.
For Kiambu County Assembly, Sh13.3 million was incurred on visits to Tanzania (three times) between August and September 2025 and another trip to Boston, USA.
Nyandarua County Assembly spent Sh12.91 million visiting Accra, Arusha (twice) for learning tours, Singapore, Madrid and Paris, Kigali and Addis Ababa.
Marsabit County Assembly used Sh11 million to make eight trips to Dubai, Ethiopia (four times), USA, France and Spain.
On the other hand, Makueni Assembly spent Sh9.56 million on a foreign trip to Kampala, Uganda while Vihiga County Assembly spent Sh9.46 million to fund trips to Arusha (twice), Kampala and Jinja for workshops.
Kisumu County Assembly spent Sh11.77 million with its officers making five trips to USA, South Korea while those from the Executive made eight trips to USA, France, Portugal, Germany; Doha in Qatar, and Accra, Ghana.
Busia Assembly spent Sh10.7 million on two trips to Dubai while their counterparts from Elgeyo Marakwet incurred Sh11.7 million visiting Rwanda (twice) for study visits by 36 officers.
Mombasa County Assembly spent Sh22 million on trips to Dubai (six times), then UK and USA, while Samburu County spent Sh11.34 million on foreign travel, comprising Sh4.40 million by the County Assembly and Sh6.94 million by the County Executive.
Machakos County Assembly spent Sh18.44 million on 10 trips to Arusha (five times), Singapore, Spain, France, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and UK while the Executive made seven trips to Dubai, Arusha, Kigali, China and Ethiopia.
For their part, Taita Taveta County Assembly used Sh2.2 million to fund foreign trips to India for training on good practices as well as Ghana for a conference.
Kakamega County Assembly spent Sh6.51 million in five foreign trips to New York, USA, Perth, Australia, Kampala, Abuja, Birmingham, UK.
Nyamira County Assembly spent Sh6.89 million on foreign trips although the report did not indicate the destinations.
For the County Executive, City Hall’s Boroughs and Public Administration department officers visited New York, Geneva thrice, Russia, and China blowing up Sh73 million on the trips in the process.
Mombasa County Executive spent Sh39.5 million visiting Denmark, Japan, Turkey, Malaysia, South Africa, Dubai and Ghana.
Kisumu County Executive splashed Sh33.2 million making eight trips to USA, France, Portugal, Germany; Doha in Qatar, and Accra, Ghana.
Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s administration spent Sh21.13 million on foreign trips by its officers who made seven trips to Dubai, Arusha, Kigali, China and Ethiopia.
Kilifi County Executive spent Sh6.6 million on foreign travel with officers making four trips to Arusha, Abu Dhabi, Morocco and Germany.
For West Pokot, it was the Executive that spent Sh4.6 million on foreign travel attending a workshop in Istanbul, Turkey in November 2025 for four days, a conference in India and the Strong Cities Network Sixth Global Summit in Toronto, Canada for a week in December 2025.
The same scenario was witnessed in Wajir where the Executive used Sh2.97 million to transport six officers to Morocco between October 26 and November 2, 2025 to attend the 14th International Date Festival.
Turkana County Executive spent Sh1.86 million to take six county executive officers to Accra, Ghana, while their counterparts in Migori incurred Sh3.18 million on foreign trips to USA and UK.
Kericho County spent a combined Sh12 million on foreign travels with the Executive making six trips to Arusha, Juba, South Africa, Kampala and Sweden while the Assembly went to UK; while their counterparts in Embu spent a combined Sh24 million on foreign trips with the Executive making four trips to UK, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam and Belem, Brazil while the Assembly visited Arusha for benchmarking.
Baringo County spent a combined Sh17.41 million on foreign travels with the Executive visiting Arusha, Gaborone and Addis Ababa while the Assembly made trips to Arusha twice and Singapore and Ethiopia.
Uasin Gishu County spent Sh15.5 million on foreign travel with the Executive accounting for Sh11 million where nine county executive officers went to Spain for a partnership summit for nine days in November 2025, and in July, where some 11 officers went to USA, Minneapolis for Sister City celebration; while the assembly spent Sh4 million.
Tharaka Nithi County spent Sh2.24 million on foreign trips where officers from the Executive visited Greece and Italy while the Assembly went to London, UK.
The Assembly visited Kampala, Spain, Italy, Dubai and Botswana while the Executive toured Turkey three times, Brazil, Dubai, and the UK.
The Narok County Executive and Assembly spent a combined Sh7.8 million on trips to China and Singapore.
Nandi County Assembly spent Sh23.8 million on foreign trips while the Executive used Sh6.58 million visiting Spain and Ethiopia.
Bungoma County made a combined Sh9.3 million on foreign travel with the Executive visiting Rabat, Morocco for an inter-cultural competence conference while the Assembly visited Uganda twice for a leadership retreat and the second Umukuuka Royal anniversary dinner and Ethiopia.
Kisii County spent Sh16.51 million on foreign travel with the Assembly visiting Spain, France, UK and China while the Executive went to Addis Ababa and China.
