The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has urged MPs and the Commission on Revenue Allocation to set a Sh130 billion mandatory spending by counties on roads, water, and agriculture in the next budget.
The PBO —which advises lawmakers on economic and budget affairs— faults counties for splashing three-quarters of their budgets on salaries and running offices while starving critical areas that can trigger growth, and now wants them forced to spend in them.
In an advisory for counties’ 2026/27 budget, the office is asking MPs and the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) to ring-fence Sh50 billion for the building of roads, Sh40 billion for water infrastructure, and Sh40 billion for agricultural services.
This would be the first time watchdog institutions – Parliament and the CRA – step in to decide amounts counties put to specific sectors, a departure from the past when counties have had the say.
“From the equitable allocation, the CRA and Parliament may consider providing a minimum allocation for agriculture, roads, water, irrigation, and county emergency funds. This will ensure counties realise substantial development and also support the national government interventions for economic transformation,” the PBO says in a report on budget options for 2026/27.
The Sh130 billion that PBO wants locked for the three sectors is 31 percent of the Sh420 billion equitable share of revenues proposed by the Treasury in the Budget Review and Outlook Paper.
In the roads sector, the office notes that the 47 counties allocated Sh43 billion in the current fiscal year, with some setting aside as low as 1.6 percent of their budgets, despite the poor state many of them are in.
As of June 2024, at least 117,887km of county roads were unpaved, with just 3,607km paved, affecting the movements of many Kenyans who use them to get to towns, markets, and farms.
The PBO faults governors for failing to put enough money for roads despite many of them being in a bad state, and now wants MPs and the CRA to crack the whip and force them to spend Sh50 billion in 2026/27.
The office also says poor funding of the agriculture sector has hindered the provision of extension services, while fertiliser programmes have not benefitted small-scale farmers, calling for a mandatory minimum allocation of Sh40 billion.
In the current fiscal year, counties allocated Sh31.6 billion to agriculture, led by Turkana (Sh1.6 billion), Marsabit (Sh1.3 billion), Kiambu (Sh1.2 billion), and Narok (Sh1.03 billion).
“This is equivalent to 5.2 percent of their total budget, which is below the recommended 10 percent in line with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program,” the PBO observes. In the Water sector, counties allocated Sh32 billion in the current financial year, which the PBO wants raised to Sh40 billion and locked in the next year, noting that some governors set aside lows of 1.1 percent of their budgets for the sector.
The budget office reckons that locking the funds for spending in the sectors will trigger a 0.1 percent increase in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), equivalent to Sh19 billion.
It argues that counties have abdicated their duty to invest in critical development areas, using nearly all the cash they get on salaries and administration expenses.
Other than the Sh130 billion the PBO proposes for ring-fencing, it also wants counties forced to allocate Sh7 billion for emergency purposes, faulting governors for neglecting kitties created to provide interventions during droughts, floods, and other calamities.
While many counties have established emergency funds, there still exist instances where they just put money in and withdraw immediately after, “raising concerns that the fund is an instrument to facilitate expenditure.”
