More than half of the 47 county governments can not account for billions of shillings that were spent under hidden budgetary allocations, raising fresh concerns over transparency and accountability.
A new report by the Controller of Budget, Margaret Nyakang'o, has revealed how the county governments are using a vague expenditure code of "Other Operating Expenses" to conceal secret and irregular spending.
In other counties, expenditure items on operations and maintenance are recorded with vague or generic descriptions like public engagement expenses, youth empowerment programs, risk response expenses, Governor's Cup, document scanning, Gender Days, capacity building, teenage mums training, disposal expenses, among others.
According to the County Governments Implementation Review Report for the 2025/2026 financial year by the Controller of Budget, various counties are using hidden and opaque expenditure codes to conceal spending that should ordinarily be declared under a specific budget line, for accountability.
The Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
Ms Nyakang'o has now flagged the growing misuse of the budget line dubbed "Other Operating Expenses -Other", a broad category that she says makes it difficult to track how public funds are used.
"The practice that falls under operations and maintenance expenditure hides transactions that should naturally be declared under distinct, traceable budget lines, making it impossible to understand and oversee the use of taxpayers' money.
For instance, Johnson Sakaja's Nairobi City County led with expenditure of a whopping Sh 2.27billion spent under the "Other Operating Expenses - Other" category. There was no breakdown of how the money was used.
Nairobi is followed by Governor Stephen Sang's Nandi County, which used Sh 1.25 billion, 60 per cent of its total expenditure of Sh2.05 billion on operations and maintenance.
The CoB established that the money was spent under vague budget votes and others labelled as "Other Operating Expenses -Other."
The most interesting budget codes were flagged in Kiambu County, where Governor Kimani wasl Matangi spent Sh 309 million on "Other Operating Expenses - Other category.
The expenditure was 5.45 per cent of the devolved unit's total expenditure on operations and maintenance of Sh 5.68 billion.
Some of the expenses were given vague and generic names like; burial expenses, purchase of sanitary towels, hiring of police officers, air tickets, meal allowances and training expenses.
"Several expenditure items were recorded with vague or generic descriptions, making it difficult to trace their nature and how taxpayers' money was spent,"CoB Nyakang'o says in the report.
In Bungoma County, Governor Kenneth Lusaka spent Sh309.3 million (8 per cent of its operations and maintenance budget) under the obscure code of "Other Operating Expenses" category.
Some expenditures in the county, with clear budget codes, were bundled under the hidden category or given generic descriptions, making it difficult to trace how the taxpayers' money was used.
The county executive used Sh105.9 million under "Other Operating Expenses" category, with the county Assembly spending Sh150.83 million.
Busia County spent Sh 253.53 million on "Other Operating Expenses -Other" category, which accounted for 19.9 per cent of the total operations and maintenance expenditure of Sh 1.5 billion.
"Some expenditures with clear budget codes like domestic travel, communication, trade fairs, video conferencing among others were placed under the category, making it difficult to determine their nature and map them to correct budget codes," reads part of the report.
"Several other expenditure items were recorded with vague or generic descriptions," further says the report.
The money was allegedly spent on things like scanning and disposal of documents, clean-up exercises in towns, verification and validation of staff documents, among others.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior -led Makueni County also spent Sh 377million on "Other Operating Expenses -Other category.
The expenditure amounted to 15.33 per cent of the total Sh 2.48 billion spent on operations and maintenance.
Nyamira County spent Sh 228.8million under the opaque category. Other counties that spent over Sh 100 million under the vague code or under vague budget line descriptions, without providing a proper breakdown include; Meru (Sh 181.08 million), Wajir (Sh 179.9million), Kajiado (Sh 170.6 milllion), Embu (Sh154.34 million), Trans Nzoia (Sh 153.9million), Kitui (Sh 122.2million), Kilifi (Sh 121.37million) and Marsabit (110.47 million). Baringo County spent Sh 20 million under "Other Operating Expenses -Other."
"Some expenses were given generic descriptions like; cleaning services, contracted guards expenses, membership fee and office furniture expenses. Others were put under the opaque category," says the report.
"A review of other expense items revealed that some expenditures with clear and unique budget codes were erroneously aggregated under the other expenses budget code category. These included; resource mobilization, community participation, social protection among others These should have been mapped to the correct budget codes," reads the report.
"Several expenditure items were recorded with vague or generic descriptions, making it difficult to determine their nature and map them to the correct budget codes," further said the report.
In Kisumu, the County Assembly spent Sh 10.6 million in the hidden category.
However, a detailed breakdown of what was settled through this vote was not provided.
Other counties that spent a substantial amount of money in the opaque category and also under vague and generic budget descriptions include; Machakos which used Sh94.9 million, Kwale (Sh93.83 million), Nyandarua (Sh 55.8million), Samburu (Sh 51.81 million), Mandera (Sh 49.5million) and Kirinyaga (Sh 43.64 million).
Others were; Vihiga (Sh33 million) Kericho (Sh27 million),Taita Taveta (Sh25.4 million), Homa Bay (Sh24.25 million), Garissa (Sh10.37 million), Kisii (Sh10 million), Siaya (Sh4.2million), Migori (Sh4 million), Uasin Gishu (Sh2.2 million) and Elgeyo Marakwet spent Sh0.99 million.
Only twelve counties reported zero expenditure under the category, or under vague budget vote descriptions, earning praise from the Controller of Budget.
The counties which did not spend a penny under hidden budget lines were; Nakuru, Laikipia, Lamu, Isiolo, Nyeri, Kakamega, Mombasa, Muranga, Tana River, Tharaka Nithi, Turkana and West Pokot.
The Controller of Budget has recommended that counties ensure all expenditures are recorded under their specific budget codes rather than being hidden under "Other Operating Expenses -Other" category.
"Expenditure items on operations and maintenance should also not be recorded with vague or generic descriptions. It makes it difficult to trace how the taxpayers' money was spent," stated Ms Nyakang'o.
Interestingly, during the 2025/2026 financial year, the 47 county governments spent a whopping Sh 369.89billion (89.23 per cent) of the total Sh 496.58 billion used by all counties on recurrent expenditure, only allocating Sh 126.69billion (25.51 per cent) on development for the whole year.
During the period, Sh235.96 billion was spent on personnel emoluments (salaries, wages and allowances), and Sh133.92 billion on operations and maintenance.
