There are many services that counties may not be providing to their residents due to under-utilisation of their budgets, a new report indicates.
The report titled County Governments Budget Implementation Review prepared by the Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo showed that counties only spent 48.4 per cent of their total annual budgets during the first nine months of the 2018/2019 financial year.
However, a few counties managed to utilise over half of their budgets.
Narok County, which hosts the world's famous Maasai Mara was the top performer as it was able to absorb 60.1 per cent of its budget. Other counties which were able to make the list of the top performers include Kitui, Garissa, Murang'a, Nandi, Nyamira, Mandera and Nairobi.
The rest of the counties were absorbing less than 50 per cent of their budgets.
This is not the first time counties are on the spotlight for under-utilisation of funds allocated to them by the National Treasury.
For instance, in 2018, counties in Mt Kenya region failed to utilise an estimated Sh 22.6 billion meant for development.
This report by the Controller of Budget comes at a time when governors are pushing for more money to be allocated for the counties.
The chairman Council of Governors, Wycliffe Oparanya has filed a petition with the Supreme Court over the allocation of funds. The counties want an advisory opinion on the way forward after a dispute between the Senate and National Assembly on the Division of Revenue Bill which may stall operations in the counties.
The Senate wants Sh335 billion allocated while the National Assembly remains firm on Sh310 billion indicated in the 2019/2020 financial year.
The Senate is using the Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) recommendation as a basis for asking for more money while the National Assembly is using the Treasury's recommendation to slash the budget.