Raila AU campaign spent Sh216 million in just two weeks

Raila Odinga during his AUC bid launch at State House, Nairobi. [Emmanuel Wanson, Standard]

The Foreign Affairs Ministry sought Sh523.8 million to support former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's campaign, as he ran for the Chairperson position of the African Union Commission (AUC), in line with Kenya's foreign policy for 2024.

The Controller of Budget (CoB), Margaret Nyakang'o, has, however, said in the Budget implementation review report of the first nine months for Financial Year 2024/25, that her office approved Sh216.3 million.

The initial amount was approved by National Treasury on November 14, but the CoB approved the Sh216.3 million on February 5, just about two weeks to the AUC elections date.

This came as the third quarterly report revealed that while the State agencies requested additional funding amounting to Sh48.8 billion, Nyakang'o only approved Sh42.22 billion.

She also said that the State House sought Sh1.5 billion to cater for utilities, rent, local presidential visits, hospitality services, fuel expenses and maintenance of motor vehicles, an amount approved by the National Treasury on February 27 and CoB approved Sh1.1 billion on diverse dates.

CoB's first approval of Sh160.6 million was made on February 28, the second one of Sh401.6 million on March 7, the third one of Sh221.1 million, and the last one of Sh374.4 million on March 19.

"Article 223 of the Constitution allows the national government to access additional funding during the budget implementation by spending money that has not been appropriated if the amount appropriated for any purpose under the Appropriation Act is insufficient or a need for unbudgeted expenditure arises for which no amount has been appropriated, or money has been withdrawn from the Contingencies Fund," Nyakang'o has explained.

"During the first nine months of FY 2024/2025, the Controller of Budget authorised a total of Sh42.22 billion under article 223 of the Constitution," she added.

She said that all the affected additional funding was regularized in Supplementary II budget estimates as required by Article 223 (2) of the Constitution except for Sh1.24 billion disbursed by the World bank and spent by the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs under Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project.

At the same time, she cited budget implementation challenges, which included the accumulation of significant pending bills, which stood at Sh511.75 billion by March 2025, limiting cash flows and affecting suppliers' operations, especially SMEs.

She also said there was low revenue outturn, with only 62 per cent of the annual target collected in the first nine months, occasioning delayed disbursement of funds and low absorption rates across MDAs and County Governments.