The latest evaluation of the financial performance of the 47 counties confirms that a lot more needs to be done to get the best out of devolution. The 13 years of devolution appear to have yielded mixed results.
The governors must streamline the running of the counties for their people’s benefit and well-being. There is simply no time and room for more excuses.
Since 2013, the National Treasury has transferred a really tidy sum of more than Sh4 trillion to the 47 county governments. The counties were, for example, allocated Sh415 billion for the 2025/26 financial year and Sh428 billion for the 2026/2027 period.
The devolved units have just been ranked using seven public finance indicators, providing the Senate with an objective benchmark. The metrics included budget implementation efficiency, development expenditure, own-source revenue performance, expenditure on wages and benefits, pending obligations (including bills), county assembly expenditure ceilings, and audit outcomes. No single county attained the highest overall Grade A in fiscal performance.
Diverting public funds
A Senate audit has revealed that dozens of counties failed to meet legal development spending thresholds, diverting public funds into bloated recurrent costs, unaccounted cash imprests, and irregular procurement.
The inaugural County Fiscal Performance Measurement Index (CFPMI), developed by Parliament’s Parliamentary Budget Office, has ranked Embu as the best-managed county in fiscal performance. Nairobi emerged among the bottom 10 despite controlling the largest county budget, exposing a stark divide.
Some 27 counties failed to meet the mandatory 35 per cent development spending threshold. Mismanagement, outright theft, and corruption severely hamper performance.