PREMIUM Embu tops first county fiscal ranking, Turkana and Kisumu last Embu emerged as Kenya's best-managed county in Kenya. Counties Just now Listen

Embu has emerged as Kenya's best-managed county in the country's first comprehensive fiscal performance scorecard, while Nairobi City County was ranked among the bottom 10 despite controlling the largest county budget, exposing a stark divide in financial management across devolved governments.

It measures adherence to legal thresholds on development expenditure, wage bills, county assembly spending, budget absorption, own-source revenue performance, pending obligations and audit outcomes.

In contrast, bottom-ranked counties including Kisumu, Kakamega, Busia, Bomet, Nairobi City, Baringo, Lamu, Kajiado and Bungoma repeatedly recorded weak performance across several indicators, including excessive wage bills, poor development spending, weak own-source revenue mobilisation, persistent pending bills and unfavourable audit outcomes.