The budget allocation for the purchase of new cars for Kenya’s top three government offices has shot up eight times in the latest changes to the spending plan that also benefited retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The offices of President William Ruto, his deputy Rigathi Gachagua and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi have been allocated Sh802.2 million to buy motor vehicles in the current financial year, a significant increase from what had been allocated as Kenyans come to terms with a bloated government that has scuttled Kenya Kwanza’s austerity measures.
In the budget estimates for the Financial Year 2022/23, the three offices had been allocated Sh100.8 million, though the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary had not been catered for. However, the exclusion of the Prime CS only cuts the expenditure by 10 percent, or Sh80 million.
The biggest beneficiary among the three is Mr Gachagua whose office was given Sh290.8 million for the vehicles, an increase of Sh200 million from Sh90.8 million that had previously been allocated by former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani.
In total, the budget for the purchase of new cars for all the State bodies in the current financial year ending June more than doubled to Sh2.06 billion from Sh810.3 million that had been allocated in the original budget, with the three offices accounting for more than 40 percent of the budget. BY DAILY NATION