State House, lodges get Sh125m for renovations
State House, Nairobi.
The National Treasury has allocated an additional Sh125 million to the Office of the President to renovate State House and state lodges.
Through the supplementary budget, treasury has given the an extra Sh26 million for refurbishment of State House after increasing its development spending allocation from Sh37 million in June to Sh63 million in the mini budget for the fiscal year 2021/22 submitted to Parliament last week.
Treasury has also allocated an additional Sh50 million for renovation of the State Lodge in Sagana, Sh40 million for the same works at the Mombasa State Lodge, Sh4 million to the State Lodge in Kisii and Sh5 million to that in Nakuru.
The lodges, which are used to accommodate the Head of State in his regional visits and are accorded round-the-clock protection by the General Service Unit, are one of the biggest gainers from the Sh1.41 billion extra allocation the President’s office has been added for development spending.
Treasury added Sh3.32 billion to the Office of the President in the mini budget, a 9.6 per cent increase from June estimates mainly driven by a Sh1.89 billion additional allocation to State House.
“The increase is on account of support for enhancement of operations and maintenance,” Treasury said.
The allocation comes amid a biting cash crunch at Treasury that has handed President Uhuru Kenyatta tough choices to make in his last budget with a number of key needs requiring extra financial support over the next six months.
The supplementary budget has prioritized fiscal interventions in programs aimed at alleviating Covid-19 pandemic related challenges, urgent support for drought programs, and payment of pending bills and salary arrears, as well as preparedness for the upcoming August General Election.
The revised budget also raised allocation for spending by government ministries by Sh126.3 billion, which is a 3.3 percent jump of the national budget from the original plan presented in April last year that is set to further widen the budget deficit.
“The overall change in the national government ministerial budget, excluding the consolidated fund services and county allocations, from the original approved budget is an increase of Sh126.3 billion,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani told Parliament.
