For the umpteenth time, the Treasury has announced measures to cut allocations for non-essential items like travel, hospitality and car services for which taxpayers have been paying billions of shillings annually.
In the year to June last year, such expenditures gobbled up Sh30 billion, a sharp rise over the last five short years when it stood at Sh18 billion.
Now, the acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary has warned that the cuts on such spending will be “brutal, sustained, and with no compromise”. Sadly, this is not the first time that a CS is uttering similar warnings and taking a similar tone in the push to control spending within the government, presumably to spur development.
In the past, there have been several half-hearted attempts at “austerity measures” that aimed at cutting spending on items like travel, big cars, and entertainment. Perhaps this is where the CS should start from and audit why the budgets have been rising and what needs to be done to contain the bill. Secondly, he should explain why taxpayers are not seeing action being taken against departments and officials who have routinely been going against the policy direction.
The CS should only make the promises if he is sure they will be implemented. Indeed, if he is committed, he had better campaign for implementation of past pledges.
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