The taxpayer is expected to foot Kshs 802.2 mn to buy cars for the top three government officials after the budget allocation for purchase of new cars increased by more than eight times compared to the same allocation in the Financial Year 2022/23. The offices that are set to benefit from this luxurious move include the office of the President William Ruto, office of the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
In the last financial year, the budget allocation for purchase of new vehicles stood at Kshs 100.8 mn although the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary had not been accounted for. Notably, the office of the deputy president will get Kshs 290.8 mn during this financial year which is an increase by more than Kshs 200.0 mn from kshs 90.8 mn in the last financial year.
This comes at a time when the country is battling economic crisis as some parts of the country are starving to death. In fact, the government is on record saying that they plan to cut all extravagance and wasteful spending in an effort to contain the country’s debt appetite that has left the country in a bad economic state. These are efforts to keep the recurrent expenditure below revenue.
Read: President Ruto Directs Ksh300 Billion Cut In National Budget
However, the purchase of new cars is one of the major drivers of the recurrent expenditure which will account for a total of Kshs 2.1 bn in this financial year as allocated in the budget.
Kenyans have since questioned the priorities of the Ruto government owing to the deteriorating economy on one hand while on the other, they are witnessing unnecessary spending on extravagant matters of the state.
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