A report by the Controller of Budget has revealed the counties that spent heavily from their budget on allowances and travel expenses for Members of County Assembly (MCA), within a period of three months.
The report, County Governments Budget Implementation Review, indicated that County Assemblies spent a total of Sh632.9 Million on MCAs’ sitting allowances between July and September 2015.
According to the findings, Migori County led the pack splashing Sh533,548 on sitting allowances followed by Trans Nzoia County which spent Sh509,480. Mombasa County Assembly came third spending Sh461,481 on the allowances.
A deeper analysis of the statistics show that Tharaka Nithi County was the least extravagant, spending Sh47,164 to settle the county representatives’ allowances. This was followed by Baringo which used Sh83,199 with Taita Taveta spending Sh86,111 on the MCAs.
Also in the report, it emerged that some County Assemblies had exceeded the maximum amount of allowances recommended by Salaries and Remuneration Commission including; Nyeri, Mombasa, Homa Bay, Kisii, Meru, Migori and Trans Nzoia.
The summary further exposed County Governments’ expenditure on domestic and foreign travel by the MCAs and County Executives.
Among those which recorded the highest travel expenditure were Nairobi at Sh160 Million, Machakos (Sh88 Million) and Kiambu (Sh80 Million).
However, some counties were lauded for proper use of their allocated funds including Lamu, Garissa and Narokwhich spent Sh12 Million, Sh11 Million and Sh4.7 Million on the tours respectively.
-kenyans.co.ke
