Uasin Gishu, Samburu, and Isiolo are among the best counties in the latest own-source revenue collection report from the Office of the Controller of Budget.
Twelve counties collected more than 75 per cent of their annual targets. Uasin Gishu County, for instance, had set a target of Ksh1.17 billion and has so far collected Ksh1 billion.
Samburu County, on the other hand, had set a target of Ksh256 million and had so far collected Ksh224 million in the first nine months of the financial year 2023/2024.
Similarly, Turkana County exceeded a third of its revenue target. The county had set a target of Ksh220 million but had so far collected a total of Ksh135 million as own-source revenue.
Other best-performed counties included Kirinyaga, Isiolo, Nandi, Vihiga, Meru, Wajir, Narok, Nyeri, and Elgeyo-Marakwet.
The budget controller officer however enlisted counties with the lowest proportion of their own source revenue against targets.
These counties included Kericho at 30.8 per cent, Nyandarua at 27.1 per cent, Machakos at 26.3 per cent, and Lamu at 20.7 per cent of the annual target.
Kericho for instance, had set a revenue target of Ksh1.2 billion but had only collected a total of Ksh243 million.
Nyandarua County headed by Moses Ndirangu Badilisha had set a total revenue target of Ksh1.2 billion but had only collected Ksh167 million for the past nine months of the financial year 2023/2024.
The Office of Budget Controller led by Margaret Nyakang'o urged county governments to retrain from accumulating pending bills as the main course of underperformance.
"The Controller of Budget advises the county governments that recorded performance below 50 per cent of their annual target to control budget commitments to avoid accumulating pending bills in the coming financial year," the report read in part.
Initially, Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza had denied reports from the office of the Controller of Budget indicating that the county government used Ksh1 billion for foreign trips.
Mwangaza called on the budget controller, Margaret Nyakang'o, to move with speed and set the records straight.
