Report shows Sh221.6m used by county was not approved

By Benard Sanga

Mombasa, Kenya: Mombasa County used Sh221.6 million more to pay allowances and non-essential expenditure in the first quarter of this financial year without the approval of the Controller of Budget, a report by the office of Controller of Budget indicates.

This money was spent between July and September last year.

The report also indicates that Kilifi County lacked adequate human resource to execute the mandate of the county government, which posed a challenge in the implementation of the budget.

Kilifi also did not meet its revenue collection targets during the period in review and the Controller of Budget warns that if the trend continues, the county may not be able to realise its projected local revenue collection of over Sh2 billion.

The county had projected to collect Sh172 million monthly, but it was only able to collect Sh24.8 million in July, Sh26.8 million and Sh26.2 million in August and September respectively.

The Controller of Budget report shows that Mombasa County received Sh545 million from the Treasury for recurrent expenditure, but spent Sh767.2 million, which is a huge portion of the funds going to county executive personnel emoluments. “Out of the total expenditure for the county, Sh567 million (72 per cent) was spent on personnel emoluments and Sh200 million (25 per cent) on operations and maintenance while Sh20 million (3 per cent) was spent on debt repayment,” states the report released on Tuesday.

Further breakdown of Mombasa’s operations and maintenance expenditures show the county’s travel costs and subsistence allowances in the three months stood at 22 million, while conferences, hospitality and catering costs were Sh13 million.