Devolution: Twelve years later; little for development, a lot for thieves

Defiance of set rules, delayed implementation of development projects, high wage bills, massive irregularities, and misappropriation of funds by county governments are some of the major problems facing counties, rendering devolution a circus.

As counties converge for the 12th  Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, challenges of misuse and under-absorption of funds have refused to fade away.

Counties have shown little effort towards addressing key challenges facing them, raising questions as to whether those in power reap from the irregularities in place.

County governments’ budget implementation review reports have unearthed the sorry state of spending billions on salaries, allowances, with little being spent on development projects.

Even with the hefty allowances on foreign travels, the trips have yielded nothing.

Tana River County in the financial Year 2023/2024 spent Sh6,395,500 on staff allowances who attended the Jumuiya Trade Investment and Education Exchange Mission in the US.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu revealed that invitation letters to participants, back-to-office reports documenting the outcome of the mission, lessons learned, and value gained from the conference were not provided for audit review.

Further, it revealed that there was no justification for holding a local economic block event outside the country, while the Kenya Coastal Region has plenty of venues to host such events at a reasonable cost.

In Marsabit, Sh3,399,484 was spent on foreign travel, daily subsistence allowances, and air tickets for three county officers who travelled on November 29, 2023, to the United Kingdom to receive three donated used Mercedes-Benz ambulances.

However, at the time of the audit in September 2024, only one ambulance had been delivered.

In Nandi County, a payment of Sh1,761,410 was made to three officers to facilitate their attendance at the black caucus in the USA, contrary to Public Service Circular OP/CAB.308/018 by the Chief of Staff and Head of the Public Service on suspension of non-essential travel, which disallowed such journeys.

Further, a review of foreign travel and substance expenditure by the county revealed a payment of Sh1,317,316 made to a state officer to facilitate attendance of the 68th session on the status of women in New York City for 14 days, contrary to the period of travel of seven days, inclusive of travel days stipulated in circular No. OP/CAB.1/7A of January 26, 2015, by the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service.

Kilifi County spent over Sh70 million on office furniture and general equipment, out of which Sh634,685 related to the purchase was delivered on June 30, 2023.

An inspection of the items in October 2024 revealed that a 55-inch TV worth Sh151,450 was not functional, eight office chairs and four desks had not been issued, while two chairs and office desks were not verified and the assets were not recorded in the assets register.

Wajir County Government spent Sh9,312,053 to repair a generator at the county headquarters, an amount the Auditor General said was not justified, as the amount was enough to purchase a new one. Expenditure of billions on stalled, completed, and unutilized structures has also been questioned. Multimillion-dollar medical equipment also continues to lie idle.

In Siaya County, an X-Ray machine installed at Got Agulu sub-county hospital was not in use due to the lack of a radiographer to operate it.

Kilifi County is yet to utilise a Sh33.49 million incinerator delivered on March 5, 2024. The county had also spent Sh14.4 million on the supply and delivery of digital X-ray machines.

The machine was delivered on February 22, 2024, but a physical inspection that was carried out in October 2024, about eight months later, established it was not in use and still in the store.

In Kitui County, a Sh2.2 million x-ray building at Kauwi Hospital was completed but is not in use. The county government explained that it was awaiting the installation of an X-ray machine delivered in the financial year 2017/2018 for Sh70 million.

At Kitui County Referral Hospital is a Sh14.5 million oxygen plant machine that was supplied in the financial year 2016/2017 but was yet to be installed and commissioned at the time of the audit on September 11, 2024.

The Auditor General said the public may not get value for money from the expenditure on the unfinished projects.

In Nyeri County’s Narumoru Level 4 Hospital, the audit revealed that there were two surgery theatres with air conditioning valued at Sh9.7 million, which were completed but not in use.

In Nakuru County, it was revealed that it failed to utilise four projects, totalling Sh30.2 million, that were complete. The projects, as per the audit, were not in use due to non-equipping in three of the facilities and non-installation of generators in one of the facilities.

In Baringo County, analysis of the health projects implemented revealed that projects with a contract sum of Sh29,344,031 and cumulative payments of Sh20,846,989 had either stalled or been delayed.

The County Government in the financial Year 2023/2024 had budgeted for projects that were planned seven years ago.

The county had budgeted for Sh57,668,681 and projects valued at Sh11,468,681 had been planned for in the year 2017/2018, which to date remained incomplete.

Further, the contract for the construction of Kabarnet stadium was awarded to four contractors at a price of Sh46,886,162. The budgeted cost was Sh1,658,251,382. The contracts were signed within the financial years 2013/2014, 2016/2017 and 2023/2024 and the initial expected completion period for the project was the financial year 2017/2018. However, the project remains incomplete, abandoned and non-functional more than 10 years after the signing of the initial contract.

Baringo County had also entered into a contract for the erection and completion of the surgical ward block at a contract sum of Sh152,567,399 spread into phases 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

The contract duration was 57 weeks with new commencement and completion dates of: June 1, 2023 and December 30, 2024. However, despite a cumulative amount of Sh171, 152,787 having been paid on the Surgical Block, the contract that was first signed on December 21, 2016, is still incomplete to date.

Further counties continue to spend millions on rent despite deadlines set by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Twelve years ago, SRC called for the provision of official homes for high-ranking officials, such as the President, Chief Justice, Governors, and Speakers of both the National and County Assemblies.

On August 14, 2020, the SRC reiterated in a circular that the June 30, 2022, deadline for leasing houses was firm, urging counties to accelerate construction by allocating funds and prioritising these projects.

Even with the set deadline majority of the county governments and assemblies are yet to adhere to the SRC’s guidelines, and construction delays have continued.

Kwale County’s 2023/2024 audit report, for example, highlighted that millions of shillings had been spent on an incomplete Governor’s residence.

The county had entered into a contract in April 2018 for the construction of the residence for Sh149.4 million, with completion originally scheduled for April 2019.

The deadline was later extended to August 2019, with an additional Sh34.4 million allocated for the project. However, the estimated cost exceeded the SRC ceiling by more than Sh104 million.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu noted that the County unsuccessfully sought approval for ratification of the exceeded budget ceiling from the SRC on November 28, 2019, citing that the contract had been entered into before the SRC guidelines.

Tana River County Deputy Governor’s residence has faced construction delays, with a reported Sh39.8 million spent on the project, though physical verification in October 2024 revealed that the contractor was absent from the site.

In Lamu County, Sh13.5 million has been paid to a construction company for the Governor’s residence, yet the project remains incomplete.

Bomet County has also experienced delays, with the construction of the Governor’s residence abandoned despite the county having committed Sh78 million for the project.

In Marsabit County, the Assembly continued to pay a rental allowance to the Speaker despite the expiration of the SRC deadline for leasing.

Kericho County’s Speaker’s residence project has also stalled.

Furthermore, the Speaker’s residences in Bomet County and Kisii County remain incomplete despite significant expenditure.

Counties continue making payments of salaries outside the IPPD system.

On October 1, 2022, counties were required to migrate to the Unified Human Resource Information System in line with the guidelines by the Head of Public Service.

In Nandi County, for example Auditor General’s report for the FY 2023/2024 revealed that 11 officers were drawing salaries both from the IPPD system and manual payroll.

The officers were paid a total of Kshs.34, 856,231 in the IPPD and allowances totalling Sh1, 782,373 in the manual payroll.

Review of monthly manual payroll revealed that 15 permanent staff, 200 contractual staff, and 554 casual staff were paid a net salary amounting to Sh260,291,231 outside the IPPD system.

In Nakuru County, various departments within the County Executive maintained casuals without the required approvals from the County Public Service Board (CPSB).

This was contrary to Section 37(1)(b) of the Employment Act, 2007.

A review of Machakos County's payroll revealed that 67 clinical officers and 61 medical doctors were on the payroll.

A review on the Integrated Health Management system revealed that no activity was undertaken by the clinical officers and doctors from September 2023, when Level 4 and 5 hospitals were digitised and from February to March 2024.

Samburu County spent Sh1.8 million and Sh1,199,996 on mobile phones and laptops, totalling Sh2,999,996.

However, a list of beneficiaries for the mobile phones and laptops, and evidence of the market survey, was not provided.

This contravened Section 149 (1)(a)(b) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.

The report also revealed an irregularity in the procurement of mobile phones and laptops by the Uasin Gishu County Government.

The Department of ICT procured a mobile phone model Samsung S23 Ultra and a MacBook laptop computer at Sh430,000 from a local supplier.

However, physical verification of the ICT equipment procurement revealed that only the mobile phone was provided for physical inspection.