County Funds, Delays in Procurement Process, and Budget Absorption in County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

County governments in Kenya have been consistently accused of poor budget absorption. This article sought to assess misallocation of county funds and the delays in procurement process on budget absorption in county governments in Kenya. Descriptive research design was used. The study found out that there was misallocation of funds from the national governments to county treasuries and from the county treasuries to various department projects and activities which in effect affected the procurement processes. Procurement functions in the county governments were inefficient owing to the lead time and bureaucracies involved in procurement. The study therefore recommended for county governments in collaboration with commission for revenue allocation and the national treasuries to come up with a criterion for ensuring smooth flow of funds from the national treasury to the end user departments.