The Office of the President and State House spent a whopping Ksh2.2 billion in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, according to the latest report by the Controller of Budget.
The report, which covers the period from July to September 2023, shows that the Presidency’s recurrent expenditure amounted to Ksh2.18 billion, while the development expenditure was only Ksh22.6 million.
The recurrent expenditure includes items such as salaries, allowances, travel, hospitality, utilities, and maintenance. The development expenditure covers projects such as infrastructure, equipment, and software.
The report reveals that the Presidency’s expenditure was 55.6 percent of the annual budget of Ksh3.94 billion allocated for the 2023/24 financial year. This means that the Presidency has already exhausted more than half of its budget in the first three months of the fiscal year.
The report also shows that the Presidency’s expenditure increased by 29.4 percent compared to the same period in the previous financial year, when it spent Ksh1.69 billion.
The increase in the Presidency’s spending comes at a time when President William Ruto has been under pressure to reduce the cost of living and implement fiscal consolidation measures. In his state of the nation address in November, Ruto claimed that he had enhanced the allocation to the judiciary by Ksh3 billion and reduced the price of maize flour by subsidising fertiliser and increasing production.
However, the Controller of Budget report contradicts Ruto’s claims, as it shows that the judiciary’s budget was only increased by Ksh2.84 billion in the 2022/23 financial year and that the price of maize flour was still high, ranging from Ksh145 to Ksh175 per two-kilogram packet.
The report also raises questions about Ruto’s foreign trips, which have been criticised as extravagant and unnecessary. According to the report, the Presidency spent Ksh700 million on foreign travel in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, which is 35 percent of the annual budget of Ksh2 billion allocated for this purpose. However, Ruto had demanded an additional Ksh1.3 billion for foreign travel in the budget, raising the figure to Ksh2 billion pending Parliament’s approval.
The Controller of Budget report has sparked outrage among the public and the opposition, who have accused Ruto of mismanaging public funds and failing to deliver on his promises. They have called for accountability and transparency in the Presidency’s spending and urged Ruto to focus on addressing the economic and social challenges facing the country.
