Oblivious of the deepening economic crisis, the government of President William Ruto is outspending former President Uhuru Kenyatta on items many consider nonessential.

According to a report that appeared in the Sunday Nation, President Ruto has sank Sh. 2.4 billion on travel and luxuries in the six months period between October 2022 and March 2023.

This heavy spending is nearly three times more than what former President soent in the same previous period of October 2021 to March 2022.

The latest details by the Controller of Budget (COB) show that the Executive Office of the President spent a total of Sh. 2.369 billion on travel, hospitality, fuel and maintenance of motor vehicles alone.

Ruto asks for Sh. 2 billion for foreign trips in budget

During the immediate similar previous period, former President Kenyatta’s office spent Sh. 852.5 million on the same items.

At the same time, details from the COB indicate that President Ruto spent Sh. 88.69 million on foreign trips within the first six months of his presidency. With this, he outspent Uhuru by five times. The former president had spent Sh. 16.7 million on foreign travels during the same period the previous year.

This heavy spending is in contrast to the government’s call urging Kenyans to tighten their belts because it is broke. The spending also goes against proclamations by the government that it found empty coffers when it took over from the former president.

Alarmingly, this spending habit has trickled down to other government departments.

Details from the COB that have been revealed by the Sunday Nation show that Ruto’s entire government has splashed Sh. 14 billion on travel, Sh. 6 billion on hospitality and Sh. 3.3 billion on fuel and maintenance of vehicles.

“The Sh. 14 billion spending on travel is Sh. 1.6 billion more than the Sh. 12.4 billion spent during a similar period under former president Uhuru. It is the highest over the past five years,” the report in the Sunday Nation highlighted.

“It reflects an appetite by officials in the new government to globe- trot even as they lead a government struggling to raise revenues and deteriorating public services.”