Thirty-nine counties earmarked more money to health than any other function in the last financial year, a Nation Newsplex analysis of budgets reveals.
The eight counties in which health did not top the allocations were Kakamega, Laikipia, Mandera, Mombasa, Nairobi, Samburu, Taita-Taveta and Turkana. However, Mombasa and Nairobi still spent more on health than any other sector.
Although in Machakos health was apportioned a bigger slice than any other department, it ranked fourth in the expenditure budget.
Health, along with agriculture and water, are some of the key services functions that were devolved to counties from the national government.
During the financial year 2015/16, the same number of counties did not have health as their top allocation.
They were Garissa, Laikipia, Migori, Narok, Samburu, Turkana, Vihiga and Mandera. But in Migori and Samburu, more was still spent on health than any other function.
In Kisumu, health topped the budget allocations, but was number three in expenditure.
A deeper look at the budgets reveals that counties now prioritise health more than in the initial years of devolution.
That year, Kisumu and Turkana earmarked more money to health than any other function but it only received the third largest expenditure.
Of the 861 major projects with the highest expenditure across the 47 counties in the last financial year, 79 were in the health, according to the Newsplex review.
Health accounted for seven per cent of the total budget allocation for all the major projects, equivalent to Sh5 billion.
Total budget allocation for all the 861 high-expenditure projects was Sh72 billion, according to the 2017 Annual County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report .
Four counties did not have any major health project. They were Machakos, Kisumu, Mombasa and West Pokot.
Lamu and Siaya allocated more than 50 per cent of the total budget assigned to high-expenditure projects to health.
In Siaya, four of its major projects focused on health, with a budget totalling Sh170 million (50 per cent of the top projects budget). They were construction of twin wards at Urenga Dispensary and the building of a maternity ward and theatre at Bondo Hospital.
Nearly half of the counties used up more than 50 per cent of the budget allocated to high-expenditure health projects.
Siaya (28 per cent), Taita-Taveta (28 per cent) and Baringo (25 per cent) had the lowest absorption rates.
Murang’a had the most costly individual health project in allocation, with Sh435 million being assigned to drugs and other supplies. This was 22 per cent of the budget allocated for the 10 major projects.
