- Travel alone shot up by Sh3 billion compared with state agencies' spending during a similar period last year.
- The budget boss has flagged overdrawn budgets on the non-core activities.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
President William Ruto’s call to ministries, departments and state agencies to cut expenditure on luxury spending seems to be falling on deaf ears.
A new report by the Controller of Budget reveals that apart from hospitality which has gone down by Sh1 billion, the other expenditures remain high.
The report covering the first six months of the current financial year, shows that ministries and state agencies spent Sh752 billion on recurrent budgets.
The amount is Sh76 billion more than the Sh676 billion that was reported in a similar period in the financial year 2022-23.
Travel alone shot up by Sh3 billion compared with what state agencies spent during a similar period last year.
During the period under review, travel expenditure amounted to Sh11 billion compared to Sh8.1 billion recorded the previous year.
Domestic travel rose to Sh7.7 billion from last year’s Sh5.4 billion while foreign travel went up to Sh3.7 billion from Sh2.6 billion.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o has cast doubt that the budget cuts called by the President Ruto administration worked.
In the report tabled in Parliament yesterday, the budget boss flagged overdrawn budgets on the non-core activities.
In the first half of FY 2023/24, the government rationalised budgetary allocations for the financial year to reduce the budget for non-core activities.
The aim of the austerity measures was to free resources for the implementation of government-priority activities under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
“While the budget revision was necessary, it did not fully consider the incurred expenditure on some budget lines,” Nyakang’o said.
She said an analysis of financial reports submitted to the Controller of Budget shows that some expenditures exceeded the budgeted amounts.
“This resulted in overdrawn budget lines,” Nyakang’o said, attributing the situation to budget cuts in the first supplementary budget of the current financial year.
The report reveals that the government spent Sh12.4 billion on insurance and another Sh1.8 billion on motor vehicle fuel and lubricants.
Spending on printing and advertising also shot by Sh25 million in the period under review whereas expenses tied to vehicle maintenance went up by 51 million.
On the flip side, spending on hospitality and training went down from Sh4 billion to Sh2.9 billion and Sh2.6 billion to Sh1.9 billion respectively.
The presidency, the report reveals, are among the agencies that cut on hospitality spending.
Compared with the Sh559 million that the office spent in a similar period last year, the amount for the three top offices— President, Deputy President, and Prime Cabinet Secretary— went down to Sh446 million.
Even so, the top office remains the biggest spenders on hospitality with the President’s office using up Sh223 million, Sh206 million in respect of the DP’s office, and Sh201 million for the National Treasury.
During the period under review, Parliament spent a combined Sh148 million being for the National Assembly, Senate, and Joint Services.
Parliament, however, topped in foreign spending at Sh1.4 billion, being Sh706 million for the National Assembly, Sh394 million for the Senate and Sh195 million in respect of joint services.
Foreign Affairs, ostensibly owing to the nature of its mandate, topped in foreign travel spending at Sh1.3 billion.
The report further details that the government spent Sh1.4 billion on refurbishment of buildings in the first six months of the current budget.
The State Department of Immigration topped the list with Sh461 million followed by Housing Department’s Sh257 million.
Renovations at the State House cost Sh152 million in the first six months while improvements under the Office of the President hit Sh126 billion.
Office upgrades at the Energy ministry took Sh127 million, Sh70 million at the National Treasury, Sh50 million in respect of the Roads department, Sh57 million at Transport, and Sh48 million at the EACC.
Parliament renovations took up Sh36 million while upgrades at the Teachers Service Commission cost taxpayers Sh6 million.
“The State Department for State House recorded the highest absorption of development budget at 58.4 per cent, while the State Department for Foreign Affairs recorded the lowest at 2.0 per cent.”
‘This is attributed to enhanced operation and maintenance expenses, refurbishment of buildings and other civil works,” Nyakango said.
The State Department for Devolution recorded the highest recurrent expenditure to gross estimates at 62.3 per cent, while the State Department for Diaspora Affairs recorded the lowest at 26.2 per cent.