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Counties should reduce their spending on travels.[File, Standard]
When Kenyans voted overwhelmingly for devolution in 2010, the vision was clear; bring government closer to the people, accelerate development in neglected regions, and ensure that public resources translate into tangible improvements in daily life.
Fourteen years on, a new report by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o has laid bare that what was devolved, above all else, was the appetite for waste.
County governments spent Sh13.17 billion on domestic and foreign travel in the first nine months of the current financial year. Nairobi alone burned through Sh1.55 billion, dispatching officials on jaunts to Dubai, Malaysia and the United Kingdom under the guise of bench-marking trips. Kitui, Meru, West Pokot and Kiambu were not far behind. In Baringo, travel consumed 42 per cent of operations spending.
