Budget shock for Rigathi Gachagua as office hit by spending cuts
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Deputy President-elect Rigathi Gachagua should brace himself for lean times due to an expected cash crunch amid budget cuts targeting the second-highest office in the land.
Deputy President (DP) William Ruto was last Monday declared President-elect on a joint ticket with Mr Gachagua under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party. The two garnered 7, 176, 141 votes (50.49 percent) to beat second-placed Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party, who had 6, 942, 930 (48.85 percent). Mr Odinga has rejected the results.
Until end of June 2023, the DP in the incoming administration will have less money following the move by President Uhuru Kenyatta to reduce the allocation for “Deputy President services”. In the current financial year (2022/23), the National Treasury allocated Sh1.7 billion for this vote head based on the Sh1.5 billion the office spent in the year ended June 2022.
The reduced allocation coincided with the falling out between President Kenyatta and DP Ruto. For instance, in 2017/18 when the duo was re-elected for the second term, a total of Sh2.2 billion was allocated to DP Ruto’s office. The allocation would be raised further to Sh2.7 billion in the year that followed — 2018/19.
However, the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga led to an increasingly frosty relationship between the Head of State and his deputy.
In 2019/20, Treasury had initially allocated Sh2.5 billion for DP’s office but reduced the amount by Sh63.6 million in a supplementary budget. In 2020/21, the DP’s budget was further slashed by Sh897.8 million, leaving the office spending just Sh1.53 billion.
In the financial year ending June 2022, the DP’s budget was further slashed Sh25 million to see the office spend Sh1.5 billion, nearly half the office spent in the year to June 2019. The National Treasury in the 2022/23 budget allocated Sh1.7 billion — an increase of Sh207.5 million compared to the budget for the year ended June.
But the budget for DP services in the year ending June 2023 is still way lower than previous budgets. The Sh1.7 billion is 64 percent of the total amount the office received before Dr Ruto parted ways with his boss.
The National Treasury had proposed to reduce the budget to Sh1.6 billion in the financial year 2023/24, but whether that happens will depend on changes the incoming administration will make.
The incoming DP will thus survive with the budget trimmed to clip Dr Ruto’s wings, unless the new government raises spending through a supplementary budget.
