In a report given by Nairobi Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo, it was evident that the taxpayers' money was being drained with costly overseas travels that were never going to benefit the mwananchi in any given way.
For Nairobi County for example, a total of Sh320.9 million was used to fund trips for Nairobi County officials. But why were the trips even organised in the first place? For most cases, the excuses given are always petty and do not add up.
The County officials go for benchmarking abroad and they claim they are chasing for experience. This is very lame. The County officials should instead get a professional within the country who can give out guidelines on how things are done without the County officials having to go abroad for the same.
The consecutive counties to have also misused funds for unnecessary overseas travel are Migori (Sh272.9 million) and Turkana (Sh270 million) Counties.
These huge sums of money could have been used in other forms of development like upgrading the education welfare or even the infrastructure of their jurisdiction.
As 2017 fast approaches, Governors who only wallow in excessive misuse of the taxpayers money should not be let back into office. They should be removed from office.
New County legislators should be given the mandate of taking the wheel of development of Counties in the country. The Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) should also take action against these leaders who are misusing the County resources.
This will help avoid excessive wastage in the future.