Devolution in Brief

Since the introduction of county governments in 2013, county spending has increased from Ksh. 242.5 billion in FY2014/15 to Ksh. 497.5 billion in FY2022/23, reflecting an average year-on-year growth of 11 percent over the last 10 years of devolution—a significant change that has contributed to improved service delivery and increased investment.  However, challenges persist in county spending, with the share of counties’ overall spending declining from a high of 15% in FY2017/18 to 12% in FY2022/23, largely due to significant increases in debt servicing and growth in national government recurrent and development expenditure. Additionally, budget allocations by the National Treasury to the State Department for Gender (SDFG) and the National Commission for Gender Equality (NGEC) remain low, at 0.12% in 2022/2023 and 0.14% in 2023/2024.