The controller of Budget has put Kitui County on the spot over a high wage bill that took 40.5 percent of the county’s total revenue in the Financial Year 2023/2024.
The County spent a total of Kshs.12.42 billion in the reporting period. The expenditure comprised of Kshs.3.83 billion on development and Kshs.8.59 billion on recurrent programs.
The County Executive spent Kshs.5.07 billion on employee compensation, Kshs.2.52 billion on operations and maintenance, and Kshs.3.8 billion on development activities. Similarly, the County Assembly spent Kshs.996.76 million on employee compensation, Kshs.602.49 million on operations and maintenance, and Kshs.26.2 million on development activities. In Total the County Spent over 6 Billion in Salary payments. This expenditure represented an increase from Kshs.4.56 billion reported in the previous financial year 2022/23.
Expenditure on domestic travel amounted to Kshs.387.36 million and comprised Kshs.137.12 million spent by the County Assembly and Kshs.250.24 million by the County Executive. Expenditure on foreign travel amounted to Kshs.128.4 million which was utilized entirely by the County Assembly.
In the Year under review, the County generated a total of Kshs.517.05 million from its sources of revenue. This amount represented an increase of 49.7 per cent compared to Kshs.464.35 million realized in 2022/23 and was 93.7 per cent of the annual target.
At the beginning of FY 2023/24, the County reported a stock of pending bills amounting to Kshs.645.30 million. In the year, the County settled pending bills amounting to Kshs.251.32 million, as of the end of the financial year, the outstanding amount was Kshs.393.98 million.
