List of 10 Counties with Poorest Own Source Revenue Performance

List of 10 Counties with Poorest Own Source Revenue Performance

  • Counties collectively raised KSh 42.3 billion in OSR during the 2023/24 financial year, meeting only 67.5% of the KSh 62.7 billion target
  • Only 10 counties exceeded their OSR targets by collecting over 100% of the projected revenue, while the majority fell short
  • Seven counties, Nyandarua, Machakos, Mandera, Nyamira, Bungoma, Kajiado, and Busia, recorded the worst performance, collecting less than 60% of their annual OSR targets

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Elijah Ntongai, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, has more than four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting expertise, providing insights into Kenyan and global trends.

The National Treasury is in the process of implementing the national policy to support county governments in the collection of Own Source Revenue (OSR).

County performance in OSR.
Nairobi county Governor Johnson Sakaja and Machakos county Governor Wavinya Ndeti. Photo: @SakajaJohnson/@Wavinya_Ndeti.
Source: Twitter

The policy assists counties in identifying key challenges affecting the collection of OSR by county governments.

According to the 2025/26 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), these challenges include weak revenue policies and laws, overlapping fees and charges, limited human resource capacity, poor taxpayer compliance enforcement, low levels of automation and system integration, and ineffective internal controls and audit processes.

Read also

Top 10 counties with highest performance in own source revenue collections against set targets

The BPS reviewed the county performance for the financial year 2023/24, which showed that, excluding the AIA (Appropriations in Aid) and FIF (Facility Improvement Financing), counties generated a total of KSh 42.3 billion, achieving 67.5% of the targeted KSh 62.7 billion.

How did counties perform in OSR targets?

Notably, only ten counties surpassed their annual OSR targets, collecting over 100% of the goal, while the other counties failed to meet their targets.

Seven counties collected less than 60% of their OSR targets, including Busia, Kajiado, Bungoma, Nyamira, Mandera, Machakos, and Nyandarua.

The table below shows counties that had the worst performance in OSR targets according to the 2025/26 BPS, which reports on the revenues collected in the 2023/24 financial year.

CountyTotal Revenue Target (KSh)Actual Revenue (KSh)Performance (%)
1Nyandarua 1,225,000,000515,740,77242.1
2Machakos3,332,286,0601,549,348,47746.5
3Mandera 330,533,846168,047,287 50.8
4Nyamira687,000,000369,796,34353.8
5Bungoma2,104,019,7361,120,909,34953.8
6Kajiado1,868,466,9851,048,356,43556.1
7Busia649,015,633369,203,97556.9
8Kakamega2,200,000,0001,347,833,27961.3
9Kisumu2,223,844,6041,443,607,98863.2
10Nairobi19,689,630,27812,542,094,41863.7

Read also

Kenya's budget estimates rise to KSh 4.26 trillion in 2025/26 policy statement

Devolution conference.
County governors during the devolution conference. Photo: @KenyaGovernors.
Source: Twitter

Counties with highest performance

In other news, Turkana emerged as the best-performing county, collecting KSh 530.6 million against a target of KSh 220 million, achieving an impressive 241.2% performance rate.

Vihiga followed with 136.3%, collecting KSh 338 million against a target of KSh 248 million.

Kirinyaga exceeded its target of KSh 550 million by collecting KSh 651.1 million, registering 118.4%.

Lamu and Nandi also recorded strong performances at 116.2% and 113% respectively. Other counties that surpassed their targets include Wajir (110%), Garissa (108.2%), Nyeri (106.1%), Samburu (104.1%), and Murang’a, which just edged past its target at 100.2%.

Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.

Source: TUKO.co.ke

Authors:
Elijah Ntongai avatar

Elijah Ntongai (Business editor) Elijah Ntongai is an MCK accredited journalist and an editor at TUKO.co.ke's business desk, covering stories on money, the economy, technology, and other business-angled stories. Ntongai graduated from Moi University with a Bachelor's in Linguistics, Media and Communication. Ntongai is trained and certified under the Google News Initiative and Reuters Digital Journalism. For any correspondence, contact Ntongai at elijah.ntongai@tuko.co.ke.

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