County governments spent Sh13.17 billion on travel in just nine months, with billions going to local and overseas trips at a time when development projects worth about Sh13 billion remained incomplete.
The expenditure, recorded in the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o's report covering the first nine months of the 2025/2026 financial year, included conferences, workshops, study tours and benchmarking activities involving county executives, governors, MCAs and other officials.
Domestic travel took the biggest portion of the money, accounting for Sh11.4 billion, while foreign travel consumed another Sh1.8 billion.
County officials travelled to several destinations across Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East, including Singapore, New York, France, Dubai, China, Switzerland, Italy, London, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, US, Qatar, Canada, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt.
The expenditure has emerged amid continued pressure on counties to complete development projects and improve basic services.
Counties are required to set aside at least 30 per cent of their budgets for development, but almost half of the 47 devolved units failed to reach the threshold during the period covered by the report.
Governance expert David Ngugi questioned the use of the money, saying it could have been directed to unfinished projects and public health facilities.
"The Sh13.17 billion splashed on domestic and foreign trav-el could have been used to fund stalled projects or equip health facilities" Mr Ngugi said, adding that the funds could also have supported roads, sewerage systems and other infrastructure.
Nairobi records highest bill
Nairobi County recorded the highest travel expenditure among the 47 counties, spending Sh1.6 billion.
Of this amount, Sh1.18 billion went towards domestic travel while Sh373.6 million was spent on foreign trips.
The report gives details of several overseas journeys by Nairobi officials.
Seven officials travelled to Singapore from March 10 to 14, 2026, to attend an ICPAK Leadership Summit at a cost of Sh13.3 million.
In July 2025, seven other officials spent Sh18.7 million at the World Credit Union Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Another group of eight officials spent Sh20 million in Switzerland between September 30 and October 3, 2025, while attending a finance summit.
Kitui was also among the counties with a large travel bill, recording Sh523.41 million.
Domestic travel accounted for Sh482.8 million, while foreign travel amounted to Sh40.6 million.
The county executive spent Sh350.39 million compared with Sh131.39 million used by the county assembly.
Twenty-one Kitui MCAs spent Sh8.5 million on a training and benchmarking visit to the East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha, Tanzania, from October 20 to 24, 2025.
A separate group of 28 MCAs was paid Sh8.3 million for the same meeting on different dates.
Meru recorded Sh515 million in travel expenditure, with Sh420.32 million spent locally and Sh95.51 million abroad.
Its county assembly used Sh223.95 million while the executive spent Sh196.37 million.
One Meru executive official spent more than Sh1 million attending an East Africa Law Society conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from November 25 to 29, 2025, according to the report.
Other high-spending counties
West Pokot spent Sh504.3 million on travel, while Kiambu recorded Sh477.5 million and Samburu Sh444.53 million.
Tana River spent Sh368.61 million, followed by Bungoma at Sh373 million, Kajiado at Sh366.54 million, Baringo at Sh323.6 million, Kisii at Sh319 million, Nyeri at Sh317 million, Nakuru at Sh316 million and Machakos at Sh314 million.
In total, 13 counties recorded travel expenditure above Sh300 million during the nine-month period.
The report covers spending by both county executives and assemblies, although the amount spent by each arm varied from one county to another.
Some individual expenses also stood out.
A Baringo official spent Sh450,740 in Gaborone, Botswana, for an unspecified meeting.
In Bungoma, five MCAs spent Sh388,759 attending a dinner in a foreign country whose location was not disclosed.
At the lower end of the spending scale, Garissa recorded Sh72 million, the smallest travel bill among the counties.
Elgeyo-Marakwet spent Sh77.6 million, Mandera Sh103.9 million, Wajir Sh112.3 million, Isiolo Sh116.4 million, Siaya Sh123.9 million and Tharaka-Nithi Sh141.5 million.
Recurrent spending remains high
A large portion of county budgets continued to go towards recurrent expenditure during the period.
The Controller of Budget reported recurrent expenditure of Sh259.57 billion, representing 65 per cent of the annual recurrent budget.
Employee compensation accounted for Sh171.36 billion, equivalent to 52 per cent, while operations and maintenance took Sh88.22 billion, or 27 per cent.
MCAs received Sh1.12 billion in sitting allowances.
Many of the county trips were listed under leadership, governance, training and benchmarking activities.
However, the report does not always provide enough detail to show why some of these engagements had to take place outside the country.
Nyakang'o has repeatedly criticised high county travel costs, warning that unnecessary trips can take money away from priority services and development.
"The amount being spent on travel is excessive and largely un-necessary. Counties must prior-itise development projects and ensure public funds are used re-sponsibly," she said.
The spending also comes against the backdrop of President William Ruto's July 2024 directive calling for government budget cuts, including at the county level, following economic pressure and protests over the Finance Bill.
The President called on public institutions to exercise financial discipline and "live within their means".
Beyond travel expenditure, the Controller of Budget report raised concerns over irregularities involving pending bills and human-resource records in counties.
The findings have added to concerns about the management of public resources as devolved governments continue to balance recurrent costs with the need to fund development and provide essential services.