The Senate has opened an inquiry to establish the number of projects and amount of money sunk into stalled and abandoned county projects.
The probe follows revelations that the number of stalled projects is increasing.
Lawmakers warned that devolution is being undermined by successive administrations that discard projects initiated by their predecessors as new governors want to build new infrastructure and burnish their own image.
“While devolution was intended to ensure the prudent use of resources and the community in service delivery, the frequent abandonment of inherited projects during leadership transitions undermines this goal,” Tharaka Nithi Senator Mwenda Gataya said.
The Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee has been asked to establish the status of all county development projects initiated before September 2022.
In the inquiry triggered by a petition from Senator Gataya, the committee will determine why the projects stalled, how much has been spent, and when they are expected to be completed.
The inquiry follows growing evidence from Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu and Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakong’o that billions of shillings have been tied up in incomplete, delayed or poorly implemented projects across the 47 counties. These incomplete and shoddy projects are documented in regular reports.
Gataya said leadership changes in counties had created a culture whereby incoming administrations prioritise their own projects at the expense of existing ones.
“The prioritisation of the new leadership’s projects over existing ones has resulted in a waste of billions in taxpayer funds, leaving citizens with incomplete and underutilised infrastructure,” he said.
He wants the Senate committee to establish the current status of all stalled or abandoned projects, identify the specific reasons for their failure and determine the budgetary provisions and completion timelines for the 2026-27 financial year and beyond.
The senator also wants the committee to examine whether existing laws and oversight mechanisms are strong enough to guarantee continuity of projects whenever county leadership changes.
Nominated Senator Beatrice Ogola said the investigation should go further back than 2022 and cover projects abandoned since the beginning of devolution in 2013.
“Devolution was meant to empower our people, not disempower them,” Ogola said.
She said the failure by counties to pay contractors had devastated businesses and left some suppliers struggling for years.
“There are county business people who have closed shop because they have not been paid for the last 10 years. This must be treated as a sign of inhumanity,” she said.
Ogola also accused county governments of paying pending bills selectively instead of following the ageing of debts, arguing that politically favoured suppliers should not be paid while older debts continued accumulating.
Countrywide concern is mounting over county pending bills, which have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the credibility of devolution.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said stalled projects had become commonplace, despite counties receiving billions in allocations from the national government.
“Our counties are awash with stalled and abandoned projects. If you go to Nandi today, many roads, streetlights and other projects are stalled,” Cherargei said.
He questioned why counties continued to record incomplete projects despite the regular release of funds by the National Treasury.
“Our people are not getting the benefits of devolution as they expected,” he said.
Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi said the problem was not simply lack of money, arguing that stalled projects reflected deeper failures in county financial management.
“The stalling of projects and under-absorption of development funds are symptoms of other factors such as corruption, poor budget discipline and delayed disbursements,” Osotsi said.
He placed part of the blame on national institutions, saying the Treasury and Controller of Budget must also account for delays in releasing funds to counties.
Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni said counties continued to struggle with project implementation because of weak systems.
“Our counties lack efficient and transparent implementation of county projects,” he said.
In the latest audit report for the year ended June 30, Auditor-General Gathungu flagged projects worth billions that had stalled, dragged on for years or had been completed without being put to use.
The projects span critical sectors including health, education, water, roads, infrastructure and industrial development. Some date back to the first years of devolution that began in 2013.
“The stalling and non-completion of projects within the planned timelines is an indication of inadequacy in project planning, control and monitoring to ensure sufficient absorption of available funds,” Gathungu said.
The audit findings expose counties to further losses through escalating construction costs, vandalism, depreciation of unfinished assets and possible litigation by contractors.
While county governments have blamed delayed releases by the exchequer, high wage bills and weak own-source revenue, the Auditor-General identified deeper weaknesses.
These include poorly conceptualised projects, unrealistic budgets, inadequate feasibility studies and the awarding of contracts to firms lacking the technical or financial capacity to complete the work.
