State House budget up 48pc with more funds for salaries and travel

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto greet First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and Mrs Rachel Ruto moments after the 57th Madaraka Day Celebrations at State House, Nairobi on June 1, 2020. [PSCU, STANDARD]

National Treasury has raised the State House budget by 47.7 per cent in the revised spending plan tabled in Parliament.

Treasury secretary Ukur Yatani is seeking MPs’ approval to raise the State House affairs budget from Sh3.98 billion to Sh5.88 billion to sustain President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office until the end of June.

Kenya heads to the General Election in August, meaning this is Uhuru’s last full financial year in State House.

Of the additional Sh1.89 billion, only Sh128.6 million is for capital spending such as acquisition of assets for the office while the bulk (Sh1.77 billion) is towards current spending such as wages, entertainment and travel.

“Increase is on account of support for enhancement of operations and maintenance,” said Yatani in the document to MPs.

The allocation to Deputy President William Ruto’s office, identified as Deputy President services, rose by 1.1 per cent or Sh14.9 million.  

This is the second time in the Covid-19 environment that the State House has received additional money in a supplementary budget.

In April 2020, for State House affairs budget was increased from the initial Sh4.56 billion to Sh5.13 billion at a time the President had announced that he had taken 80 per cent pay cut.  

The latest increases to State House spending saw the overall budget of the executive office of the president increase by Sh3.33 billion or 9.6 per cent to Sh37.92 billion.

Yatani also wants MPs to raise the budget of cabinet affairs by Sh131.5 million or 8.5 per cent to Sh1.68 billion.

That of Nairobi Metropolitan Services was raised by 4.8 per cent or Sh1.28 billion while the spending plan of government advisory services was kept unchanged at Sh688.7 million.

The Executive Office of the President was among the vote heads that saw Yatani’s proposed rise in recurrent expenditure hit Sh1.386 trillion, being 8.9 per cent rise from Sh1.273 trillion.