The latest report from the office of Auditor General adversely mentioned Garissa as among the irresponsible counties that spent far much beyond the SRC thresholds on salaries at the expense of development projects.
Wajir too featured in the list of counties that prudently allocated its monies in desirable proportions. With this fact, it is high time that Garissa MCAs make an immediate bench marking trip to learn one or two.
According to the 2015/2016 Annual Implementation Reports released by the office of the Controller of Budget, county budgetary allocations amounted to Sh367.44 billion, with their recurrent expenditures receiving a massive Sh208.82 billion and only Sh158.62 billion set aside for development projects.
However, it has emerged that counties only spent Sh295.30 billion allocated to them, leaving Sh72 billion underutilized.
Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo sharply warned that any increase in the wage bill would reduce spending on development projects in the long run, and so is the need for county governments to rethink on their expenditures.
In almost all the 47 counties, only salaries and remuneration accounted for 40 percent of their total expenditure.
Being members of the Frontier bloc, Wajir County is fast developing than Garissa regardless of the fact that the latter is strategically positioned. One f the factors that could be blamed on the stalled developments is the budget impasses that was resolved barely a month ago.