Counties blow Sh17billion on travel as Sh172billion bills pile up
As officials travelled locally and abroad, counties reported Sh172 billion in outstanding trade payables by June 30, 2026—money owed to businesses and individuals for services and supplies already provided.
County governments splashed more than Sh17 billion on local and foreign travel in the year to June 2026, even as contractors, suppliers and service providers went unpaid and devolved units accumulated a staggering Sh172 billion in pending bills.
The spending has put county administrations under fresh scrutiny over their priorities, with Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o flagging portions of the travel expenditure as wasteful, particularly where officials travelled abroad for activities that could have been undertaken locally.
The findings are contained in the Budget Implementation Review Report for the financial year ended June 2026, which provides a stark picture of counties spending billions on official trips while struggling to settle debts for goods and services already delivered.
Among the destinations favoured by county officials were Dubai, Singapore, New York, Dodoma and London, with trips ostensibly undertaken for training, leadership programmes and benchmarking exercises.
The activities included training on transformative leadership, ethical leadership and emotional intelligence, as well as visits aimed at benchmarking leadership practices.
But Nyakang’o questioned the justification for some of the expenditure, noting that certain activities could have been conducted within Kenya instead of sending county officials on costly foreign trips.
The spending was led by Nairobi City County, which used Sh850 million on travel, followed by Narok at Sh758 million, Nakuru at Sh655 million, Samburu at Sh614 million and Tana River at Sh579 million.
The figures expose a striking mismatch between administrative spending and the financial pressures confronting county governments.
As officials travelled locally and abroad, counties reported Sh172 billion in outstanding trade payables by June 30, 2026—money owed to businesses and individuals for services and supplies already provided.
Nairobi alone accounted for Sh86.90 billion, more than half of the total county pending-bill burden.
Kilifi followed with Sh8.15 billion, Kiambu with Sh5.80 billion and Machakos with Sh4.49 billion.
The size of the outstanding bills raises questions about whether counties are diverting resources from service delivery and payment of suppliers towards administrative expenditure, including travel.
For small businesses dependent on county contracts, delayed payments can cripple operations, disrupt cash flows and leave suppliers struggling to pay workers and meet their own obligations.
The travel expenditure has also raised questions about the value generated from overseas conferences, leadership training and benchmarking missions at a time when counties face persistent shortages and unmet development needs.
The contrast is particularly stark in counties where residents continue to demand better roads, health facilities, water services, waste management and other basic services.
At the national level, Government entities spent Sh25 billion on travel during the same period. But the national Government operates with a budget more than eight times the size of the funds allocated to counties, making the scale of county travel expenditure a particularly sensitive issue.
Revenue contradiction
The report also reveals wide differences in counties’ ability to generate their own revenue.
Mombasa emerged as the top county in own-source revenue collection, raising Sh21.1 billion, overtaking Nairobi, which collected Sh15.5 billion.
Kiambu raised Sh6 billion, Nakuru Sh5.3 billion and Narok Sh4.4 billion.
