Executive’s excessive expenditure worrying

A report by the Controller of Budgets has raised an alarm on the manner of government spending in the last year alone.

The report shows government borrowing grew exponentially between December 2014 and December 2015.

In that one year period, the government borrowed Sh680 billion, thus saddling Kenyans with an increased foreign and domestic debt.

This report validates concerns raised by the World Bank that Kenya was borrowing more than it could comfortably service.

This should by itself be a cause of great concern among Kenyans who, despite being informed the huge debt was being channeled into infrastructural development, are yet to see tangible proof of the same except for the Standard Gauge Railway expected to reach Nairobi by June 2017.

The Controller of Budgets assertion that the office of the president spent Sh 627 million on state receptions, parties, beverages and gifts in only six months makes a mockery of what the government terms as austerity measures that were meant to cut down on government expenditure basically to free funds for development projects.

Kenyans have not forgotten that the president and his deputy took a 20 percent pay cut in 2014, hoping to lead the way is lowering expenditure. For some time now, there have been plans to cut down the civil service to reduce the wage bill.

The Kenya Revenue Authority missed its revenue collection target in the half year period July 2015 and December 2015 by Sh52 billion, collecting onlySh569 billion from a targeted Sh622 billion.

In essence, this means that many development projects will have to be shelved since most of the money available will be used to service loans.

It is therefore important that wanton spending that does not directly impact positively on the welfare of the tax payer be held in check.