Kitui County Government employees will have to wait for up to two more weeks to receive their delayed July salaries.
The delay in the payment of salaries follow delays in the approval and processing of the county’s 2026/2027 financial year budget.
The CEC for finance and economic planning, Peter Kilonzo, has assured county staff that their salaries will be paid by September 11, 2026, at the latest.
Kilonzo attributed the delay in the payment of salaries and the financing of other county obligations to delays in the approval and processing of the 2026/2027 budget.
“We have deemed it appropriate to issue a public statement explaining the delay in the approval and processing of the 2026/2027 budget and the measures we have taken to address the matter,” Kilonzo told the media.
Kilonzo’s remarks were contained is a statement he read out to the media at the Kitui County headquarters on Wednesday.
He explained that the county executive submitted the 2026/2027 budget estimates to the Kitui county assembly on April 30, 2026. However, it was not approved until July 29-29 days after the statutory deadline of June 30.
Kilonzo said following approval, the budget and the appropriation Act were submitted to the office of the CoB on August 10, 2026, for clearance and subsequent uploading onto the IFMIS system.
However, a further delay emerged after the CoB sought clarification on a number of issues that came up during the review of the county budget.
“On review of the budget, the CoB wrote to the CEC for Finance on Friday, August 21, 2026-11 days later-seeking clarification on a number of issues,” Kilonzo said.
He said the county government responded to the queries and thus expects the CoB to approve and clear the budget for uploading onto IFMIS by Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
According to Kilonzo, uploading the approved budget onto IFMIS will subsequently allow the county government of Kitui to process salaries and meet other financial obligations.
“County staff salaries would therefore be expected to be paid into employees’ commercial bank accounts by Friday, September 11, 2026, at the latest,” Kilonzo said.
The CEC assured county employees and other stakeholders affected by the prolonged budget approval process that the situation was temporary and would soon be resolved.
“Timely payment of staff salaries remains a top priority, as we consider our employees the most important resource and their welfare is always of utmost importance,” he said.
Kilonzo expressed optimism that the bottlenecks experienced in internationalizing the 2026/2027 budget would be fully resolved and normal operations restored as well as the payment of salaries.
He appealed for patience from county employees and other stakeholders as the administration worked to complete the remaining budgetary and financial processes.
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