Uhuru, Ruto exceed Sh3.5bn OP budget amid austerity call

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, have overshot their recurrent budget by Sh300 million despite their frequent calls for austerity.

Treasury data shows that the Presidency, which constitutes the offices of the President and the Deputy President, had spent Sh3.8 billion as at April 30 against Sh3.5 billion that was allocated for the full year to June 2015.

The full year figure is expected to be much higher once the expenditure for May and June is included in the Presidency budget.

The Presidency’s recurrent budget is used to pay the salaries of the President, his deputy and past presidents, cater for their travel, procurement or leasing of vehicles, and the State House budget among others.

The Presidency is the only government unit that has so far outstripped its full year budget as other ministries remain with Sh209 billion to spend in the two months to the end of the current fiscal period.

The overspending comes amid efforts by Mr Kenyatta to rein in recurrent budget and adopt a slimmer government to free money for projects.

The Jubilee government early last year announced a tight austerity programme aiming to cut spending on non-core activities.

The spending cut plan deepened with the announcement that top public officials led by Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto had offered to take a 20 per cent pay cut, a pledge that is yet to be implemented.

The government last year unveiled a new transport policy that has seen the National Police Service resort to hiring vehicles as opposed to buying in what it considered to be massive wastage.

Mr Kenyatta’s administration is also pushing for government advertisements to be done online in what is expected to reduce the publicity bill from Sh2.8 billion to Sh1 billion.

The Presidency, however, last year emerged as one of the biggest spenders on luxury products. In the year to June 2014, the two offices spent Sh838.2 million on new vehicles — nearly four times the amount spent by the police.

READ: Uhuru, Ruto offices emerge top spenders on cars

On the development budget for the year to June, the Presidency has also nearly exhausted its allocation and remains with less than Sh4 million unspent.

This is a departure from other government entities that continue to retain unutilised billions, prompting Mr Kenyatta to place all the ministries and departments on notice over poor performance.

A memo from the Presidency, dated May 5, reveals that Sh288 billion ($3 billion) is being held at the National Treasury even as Jubilee flagship projects are yet to be implemented.

“The performance and delivery of public service in ministries remains unsatisfactory. This is unacceptable and has to change forthwith,” read part of the memo.

Some of the delayed projects include the Sh24 billion school laptop project, Sh1.4 billion pipeline expansion from Mombasa to Nairobi, Sh328 billion standard gauge railway, multibillion-shilling electricity projects to generate 5,000 megawatts of power, and the one-million-acre Galana Irrigation Scheme.

The Treasury data released Friday last week indicates that the State Department for Education which was allocated Sh20.2 billion for development has only spent Sh3.4 billion.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs with an allocation of Sh1.5 billion has spent Sh164 million while the Treasury has spent Sh10.4 billion from its allocation of Sh24.4 billion.