President Uhuru Kenyatta is pictured upon his arrival at Indira Gandhi
International Airport for the Third India-Africa Forum Summit in New
Delhi late on October 27, 2015. PHOTO | AFP
By NEVILLE OTUKI, notuki@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The Jubilee government came to power in 2013 and
announced a tight austerity plan aiming to cut spending on non-core
activities.
This saw top public officials, led by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, volunteer to take a 20 per cent pay cut. - Foreign and domestic travel spending on the Presidency rose to Sh319.3 million in the review period, up from Sh252 million while hospitality expenses increased by Sh154 million to Sh627 million
The offices of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his
deputy, William Ruto, have more than doubled spending on publicity,
travel and entertainment amid calls for austerity in government
expenditure.
The Controller of Budget report shows that the Presidency,
which comprises the offices of the President and the Deputy President,
spent Sh1 billion in the six months to December, up from Sh413.9 million
in a similar period a year earlier.
The 142 per cent rise in the three items comes amid
an austerity plan by the Treasury to free up cash for development and
essential services such as health and education in a country grappling
with high poverty levels.
Foreign and domestic travel spending on the
Presidency rose to Sh319.3 million in the review period, up from Sh252
million while hospitality expenses increased by Sh154 million to Sh627
million.
Publicity spend increased 20 times to Sh141.5 million in the period between July and December last year.
The Controller of Budget report shows that the
Presidency’s recurrent spending rose the fastest among ministries,
departments and agencies. It increased 81 per cent to Sh2.9 billion in
the six months.
This comes amid efforts by Mr Kenyatta to rein in
the recurrent budget and contain the bloated wage bill to free up money
for development projects, which are the drivers of economic growth.
Austerity plan
The Jubilee government came to power in 2013 and
announced a tight austerity plan aiming to cut spending on non-core
activities.
This saw top public officials, led by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, volunteer to take a 20 per cent pay cut.
This saw top public officials, led by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, volunteer to take a 20 per cent pay cut.
The government unveiled a new transport policy that
has seen the National Police Service resort to hiring vehicles as
opposed to buying new cars to reduce wastage.
Mr Kenyatta’s administration has also been pushing
for government advertisements to be done online to cut the publicity
bill, which still grew to Sh445.5 million between July and December from
Sh269 million a year earlier.
Overall, hospitality expenses in government grew 95
per cent to Sh1.7 billion in the review period, pointing to frequent
conferences. The increase in the publicity and hospitality budgets came
in the period of US President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to Kenya in
July and that of Pope Francis in December.
The Presidency foreign travel hit Sh111.2 million
in the review period, from Sh75 million while domestic travel took Sh208
million compared to Sh177 million.
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