As Governors face tough expenditure questions amid rising misappropriation of public resources concern, Senators were left in shock on Wednesday after details emerged that Embu County had diverted Sh10 million meant for an industrial park to fund a boda boda empowerment event attended by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki.
Appearing before the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire acknowledged the redirection of funds, saying the county acted under pressure to support boda boda Saccos.
“We had what we were calling a boda boda summit where we were launching boda boda Saccos, and we didn’t have the money, yet we had already promised that we were going to give the Saccos some money, and so we used the money to give the boda boda Saccos,” Mbarire told the committee.
Senators expressed shock at the misuse of funds, questioning why money meant for the industrial park, which would benefit residents, was instead spent on a political programme.
Chairperson Moses Kajwang decried the continuous abuse of public resources by county officials.
“What is worse between the funding of a boda boda function and the admission by Vihiga County that they raided the accounts to finance a house warming? I think this one is worse; it’s upon us to make our recommendations now,” Kajwang said.
“Such borrowing can’t be accepted, especially if that money came from the Senate; it was an illegality, and we must make that determination as such.”
The committee also indicated that Governor Mbarire and the officers involved should be surcharged for engaging in the illegality.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna called for strict punishment, saying the county knowingly broke the law.
“There must be a difference between a person who breaks the law unknowingly…these are criminals from Embu who broke the law knowingly, they deserve a much more severe punishment,” Sifuna said.
In her defence, Governor Mbarire pleaded for leniency, noting it was the first time such an incident had occurred in Embu County.
“It’s the first time we did it in Embu County; we did it under immense pressure, and I want to promise we will never do it again,” she said.
The disclosure, has evoked reactions across social media platforms, with Kenyans questioning the necessity of a bodaboda summit over an industrial park, pointing out misaligned priorities in the devolved unit.
The Embu revelation, comes in the wake of an audit report that flagged widespread mismanagement of public funds injected into market projects across the country, with many lying incomplete, vandalised or unused years after construction began.
In her report for the 2023/2024 financial year, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu highlighted the wastage of billions of shillings allocated to various county and national government market projects, revealing delays, abandoned works and poor planning across multiple regions.
In Kwale County, the Sh118 million Kombani Wholesale Market has been vandalised, with doors, windows and cold room machinery stripped. The market remains inaccessible due to a court order obtained by the contractor.
The original contract, signed on March 7, 2021, for Sh105.9 million, was later revised to Sh118 million before being terminated in November 2021. By then, the contractor had already received Sh95.3 million, including Sh9.5 million in retention money.
In Mandera County, a Sh339.6 million regional livestock market launched in May 2021 remains unutilised. The county government paid the contractor an additional Sh22 million in the current financial year.
In Isiolo County, the Sh545.2 million modern market remains incomplete, despite a payment of Sh366.6 million already made to the contractor.
Gathungu also flagged delays in the Sh42.9 million Ndagani Market project in Meru County. A contract signed in June 2023 stalled, and an audit conducted in September 2024 found no contractor on site. A ramp connecting floors was left exposed, making it vulnerable to vandalism.
“In the circumstances, the public did not realise value for money in the expenditure of Sh14,535,270,” reads the audit.
In Embu County, renovations at Manyatta Market remain incomplete. A Sh1.99 million contract signed on April 26, 2024, with a three-month completion timeline, failed to deliver. The contractor did not build a raised steel tank platform, supply and install a 1,000-litre water tank, or provide water connections, works estimated to cost Sh319,000.
In Turkana County, the Sh132 million modern business centre in Lodwar also remains stalled.
The Sh53.9 million Maralal Municipality Retail Market in Samburu County is still unused. The site is now overgrown with bushes, strewn with waste soil and covered in dilapidated iron sheets.
In Kericho County, the audit exposed the stalled Sondu Market project, launched in June 2019. The project has already consumed over Sh100.4 million out of a Sh128.9 million budget but remains incomplete.
In Migori County, several markets—including Kwiriba, Masaba, Midoti, Opapo Auction Ring, Oyani Masai, Mabera, Masangora, Kugitimo, Maeta, Ikerege, Olasi and Rongo, remain unfinished. Meanwhile, in Kisii County, the government spent Sh6.2 million on minor works in Kiony, Daroro and Mama Mboga markets, including latrine construction and small sheds.
In another Kericho County case, a Sh98 million ultra-modern market initiated in May 2009 under the Economic Stimulus Programme is falling apart, with cracks running through its floors and structural pillars.
In Nakuru County, the Sh350 million Karai Fish Market, launched in 2021, remains incomplete. So far, the project has cost Sh107 million—Sh89 million for a market shed, Sh9 million for a borehole and Sh9 million for fencing.
The findings paint a picture of inefficiencies, financial mismanagement, wastage of public resources and a lack of value for money. Auditor General Nancy Gathungu warns that county governments have continued to incur huge expenditures on projects that either remain incomplete or have long passed their completion deadlines.
Some projects, she notes, are attracting penalties due to delays in paying completion certificates for milestones already achieved, while others have been revised to cost amounts significantly higher than their original contract sums, leading to cost escalations.
Despite the growing list of abandoned or stalled projects, the government maintains that continued investment is necessary for future development.
However, the confession by Embu county on diversion of public funds, raises a crucial question, are projects stalling because counties underfunded or is misappropriation of public funds the root-cause?
