Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua addresses worshippers during a church service at PEFA Church Kiamariga, Nyeri County on July 7, 2024.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua bore the heaviest brunt of recurrent budget cuts at the top-level government for the current fiscal year, with his office losing Sh1.8 billion, mainly in travel and hospitality.
In the first Supplementary Budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year, while the Treasury slashed Sh1.87 billion from the DP’s planned recurrent spend, the President’s office had a Sh647 million cut, and Sh419 million was slashed from Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s office.
DP Gachagua’s office - which had originally budgeted to spend Sh4.57 billion on recurrent activities such as domestic and foreign travels, hospitality, and purchase of furniture and vehicles - will now spend Sh2.69 billion.
Treasury in the Supplementary Budget that came following the rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024 by Kenyans, slashed Sh1 billion from the DP’s support services including travel (Sh113 million), hospitality (Sh240 million), and purchase of vehicles (Sh100 million).
It also slashed Sh88.8 million from DP Gachagua’s coffee sector implementation committee, Sh42.5 million from his alcohol, drugs, and substance abuse programme, and removed his wife’s Sh557 million budget allocation, in line with the President’s directive.
During an interview following widespread protests across the country against the now shelved Finance Bill, 2024, President William Ruto conceded to several demands by the youth, announcing that offices of the First Lady and the spouses to DP Gachagua and Mr Mudavadi would be closed.
“With the new budget starting July 1, those offices will not be part of our equation. Many other spaces are going to be trimmed down to reflect the new reality especially after the finance bill was taken down,” President Ruto said on June 30.
The cuts from DP Gachagua’s pet programmes of coffee and alcohol come just days after he complained that officials within the government were frustrating him, by licensing bars that had been closed.
“It’s immoral, it’s unacceptable that people can sit in government and decide to bring back poison to kill our children. The other day, I convened a meeting and demanded an explanation as to why the licences allowing the distribution and sale of the killer alcohol were being issued indiscriminately,” DP Gachagua said during a tour of Nyandarua last weekend.
The total cut of Sh1.87 billion from DP Gachagua’s office is, however, nearly thrice the cut from President Ruto’s executive office, and more than four times the Sh419 that was slashed from Mr Mudavadi’s office.
At the Executive Office of the President, Treasury slashed Sh426 million from its headquarters administrative services, government advisory services (Sh147.6 million), and Sh177.6 million from the budget for leadership and coordination of government services.
A total of Sh184 million in planned hospitality spending for the office, cutting across different departments, was also slashed.
In Mr Mudavadi’s office, the Treasury slashed Sh264.49 million from the original allocation of Sh452.7 million, Sh84 million from his national government coordination secretariat office, and Sh54 million budgeted for administration services for his headquarters. The cuts involved Sh50 million for the purchase of vehicles.
The recurrent budget cuts will also see State House lose Sh3.6 billion, out of which Sh2.2 billion was money planned to fund the Nairobi-based State House, mainly travel (Sh200 million), hospitality (Sh350 million), purchase of vehicles (Sh50 million) and household furniture (Sh68 million).
A total of Sh696 million planned budget for First Lady Rachel Ruto’s office was also slashed entirely following the directive to close it.
During the year ending June 2025, the first lady planned to spend Sh85 million on hospitality, Sh50 million on the purchase of vehicles, and Sh451 million on salaries and allowances.
State House will also lose Sh590 million budgeted for policy analysis and research, while the budget for the administration of statutory benefits for retired presidents and vice presidents was slashed by Sh113 million.
