How counties burned Sh2.2 billion on 'Training Tourism' abroad

While Kenyans complain about shortages of medicines, stalled projects, poor roads and unreliable water supplies, county officials spent billions of shillings travelling locally and abroad in the year to June 2026, with large delegations attending training, conferences, benchmarking visits and other programmes.

The latest figures from the Controller of Budget show that the 47 county governments spent billions on travel during the 2025/26 financial year, including about Sh2.2 billion on foreign travel.

An analysis of detailed county travel records obtained by The Standard reveals how some of this money was spent, the size of delegations, destinations visited and the purposes given for the trips.

The records show repeated journeys to the same destinations, including Arusha in Tanzania, Dubai and Singapore, sometimes involving dozens of officials from a single county.

In November 2025, Lamu County Assembly sent 21 members to Dubai for a two-week Capacity Building Training on the Leadership Development Skills Programme, at a cost of Sh21 million.

Just two months later, in January 2026, another 19-member delegation travelled to Dubai for a two-week Strategic Organisational Change in the Public Sector Programme, costing the county a further Sh19.2 million. The two trips involved 40 members and cost taxpayers Sh40.2 million.

The Controller of Budget records show Lamu spent Sh101.77 million on foreign travel, of which Sh98.88 million was incurred by the county assembly and Sh2.89 million by the executive.

No destination attracted Kenyan county lawmakers more than Arusha, Tanzania. The East African city became the undisputed "training capital" for MCAs, hosting delegations from at least 15 counties in a single financial year.

Kiambu County alone dispatched 12 separate delegations to Arusha between July 2025 and April 2026, shuttling a combined total of over 120 officers for what were almost identically worded "Benchmarking study visits to the East African Legislative Assembly." The total cost: more than Sh45 million.

Nyeri County sent 46 officers to Arusha in September 2025 for "training on budget implementation, monitoring and oversight" at a cost of Sh15.6 million, then dispatched another 33 in January 2026 for "capacity building" at Sh7.7 million, followed by 30 more in February for "legislative governance policy, protocol and finance" at Sh7.1 million.

Embu County topped the delegation-size charts, sending 51 officers to Arusha in February 2026 for "Training on Parliamentary Procedures and Best Practices in Budgeting" at a cost of Sh12.2 million, after an earlier group of 40 had already visited the same city in October 2025 for "Benchmarking with the East African Legislative Assembly" at Sh20.08 million.

Beyond Arusha, two other destinations dominated the MCA travel itinerary: Dubai and Singapore — cities better known for luxury tourism than for legislative expertise relevant to Kenyan devolution.

Mombasa County emerged as the most prolific Dubai traveller, dispatching at least 12 separate delegations to the Gulf emirate between November 2025 and June 2026 for an eye-watering array of programmes.

These included strengthening county oversight in education, public health, resilience and community systems, infrastructure and project management,, blue economy entrepreneurship among other trainings. The cumulative cost exceeded Sh40 million, all to Dubai.

Busia County sent 14 MCAs to Singapore in January 2026 for a "Public Finance Management Program" that cost a jaw-dropping Sh31.97 million, roughly Sh2.28 million per delegate. For context, that single trip's budget could have financed the construction of at least three fully equipped Level 3 health centres in the county.

Meru County assembly and executive were particularly globetrotting, with trips to Singapore, Dubai, Turkey, Malaysia, Germany, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, China, and the United States, all within a single financial year.

One MCA from the county attended the "74th National Prayer Breakfast" in Washington, D.C., at a cost of Sh638,921. Another county executive travelled to Tel Aviv for "Cyber & AI Week 2025."

The report also shows Kakamega County sent an executive officer to Uganda to participate in a "Drama and Music Festival" at a cost of Sh298,664, and another to Ethiopia for the same festival at Sh379,808.

Bungoma County dispatched five MCAs to Uganda for the "Second Umukuuka III Royal Anniversary Dinner, 2025" at Sh388,759 while Narok County sent a staggering 38 officers to Tanzania for "Mara Day celebrations" at a cost of Sh5.2 million.

Kisumu County funded a trip for an executive officer to Uganda to celebrate "90 Years of Service of Makerere University" at Sh274,040.

For Bomet, the County Assembly spent Sh18.9 million to send 25 officers to Angola for the "2nd Edition of the RAID Okavango Region" and Sh13.9 million to send 10 officers to Brazil for COP30. While climate conferences are legitimate, the scale of these specific delegations from a small county assembly is a massive outlier compared to national government delegations.

Kitui County outdid even Bomet, dispatching 58 officers to Kigali, Rwanda, for "Training on Leadership and Diplomacy" at a cost of Sh41.36 million, the most expensive single foreign trip recorded across all 47 counties.

Dr Nyakang'o's report paints a damning picture of priorities across the devolved system.

Nairobi County leads the nation in foreign travel spending at Sh164.93 million, all of it incurred by the County Executive, none reported by the county assembly.

In the COB report, the county sent six officers to Geneva, Switzerland, for the "Geneva Tchoukball Indoor Championships" on December 16-22 2024. Suprising anognther entry of Sh2.49 million was spent on four officers for the same entry.

Tchoukball, a niche, non-Olympic rebound sport invented in the 1970s by a Swiss biologist, has zero logical or legal nexus to the constitutional mandate of a county government.

The capital's executive dispatched delegations to Dubai, Tokyo, Morocco, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Switzerland, New York, London, South Korea, Malaysia, Geneva, and Abu Dhabi in a single year. One trip to Tokyo for the "3rd Gnets Leaders' Summit" cost Sh14.23 million for seven officers.

Lamu County's foreign travel bill of Sh101.77 million is particularly striking given that it is one of Kenya's smallest and most economically challenged counties. The Sh98.88 million spent by its County Assembly on foreign travel means that, per capita, Lamu's MCAs were among the most well-travelled legislators in the republic.

The travel records are replete with vague, interchangeable programme titles, "Strategic Leadership and Governance," "Transformative Leadership," "Digital Leadership Navigating Governance in the Public Sector," "Integrated Strategy and Risk Management", that appear to be generic conference products marketed to government delegations across Africa.

That the same "Strategic Leadership and Governance in a Parliamentary Setting" training was attended by Nakuru MCAs in Tanzania in August, September, October, and again in June 2026, at a combined cost of over Sh27 million, raises serious questions about whether these programmes offer any progressive learning, or whether they are simply recurring revenue streams for the training organisers.

Similarly, Mandera County sent three separate groups of seven MCAs each to Singapore on the exact same dates, February 8-16 2026, for "Singapore on official duty," each at a cost of Sh1.575 million. The duplication is difficult to justify.

Marsabit County, one of Kenya's most marginalised counties where drought and insecurity routinely displace thousands, spent Sh27.71 million on foreign travel, including trips to Australia, Japan, Dubai, Singapore, France, Spain, Ethiopia, and the United States. One officer attended the "International Mayors Forum" in Toyota City, Japan, at a cost of Sh916,700.

Foreign travel, while eye-catching, is only part of the story. The domestic travel figures are equally alarming and, in many cases, far larger.

Narok County leads the nation in domestic travel at Sh738 million, followed by West Pokot at Sh688.31 million, Nairobi at Sh685.53 million, Turkana at Sh615.49 million, and Baringo at Sh588.45 million.

In West Pokot, domestic travel consumed Sh688.31 million more than the county's entire development budget for several sectors. The County Executive alone accounted for Sh515.85 million of that figure.

In Narok, the County Executive spent Sh488.62 million on domestic travel, raising questions about the scale of local movement required to justify nearly half a billion shillings in a single year.

The Controller of Budget flagged the travel expenditure as a significant drain on county resources at a time when development budgets are being squeezed and pending bills continue to mount across the devolved system.

The pattern is consistent: counties with the highest travel expenditure are not necessarily those with the best service delivery outcomes. In many cases, the reverse is true.