The Office of the Deputy President has defended its request for KES 400 million in the 2024/25 budget to renovate official residences and purchase new vehicles, dismissing initial reports that suggested a much larger KES 2.6 billion allocation.
The budgetary estimates, presented to parliament’s Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security, have drawn intense public and legislative scrutiny over the necessity and scale of the proposed expenditure at a time of economic constraints.
“The misrepresentation of facts and figures negates objectivity,” Njeri Rugene, head of the Deputy Presidential Communication Service, said in a statement on Thursday. “The facts are captured in the Hansard, which is a public document.”
According to Rugene, KES 300 million is earmarked for renovating the deputy president’s offices at Harambee House Annex in Nairobi, the official Karen residence, and the Mombasa residence – properties she said have been “neglected over the last 15 years affecting critical areas of habitability, safety and security.”
The remaining KES 100 million would go towards purchasing new official vehicles to replace an aging fleet that is “costly to maintain, compromising service delivery,” she added.
The clarification comes amid public uproar and parliamentary scrutiny over perceived lavish spending, with critics questioning priorities at a time when funding for school feeding programs and medical intern salaries remains inadequate.
