President William Ruto’s State House blew Sh4.32 billion in just three months. This massive expenditure was against the target allocation of Sh1.92 billion that State House had been given to spend in the first quarter of the current 2025/26 financial year.
Instead, in the three months that ended on September 30, State House had spent Sh4.32 billion. This means that the budget was overshot by 125 percent in three months. This shocking expenditure has once again raised concerns at how Ruto’s State House has been blowing billions of money way out of its allocations. It has not been clear on what the actual expenses such huge amounts have been getting spent on really are.
The huge State House spendthrift comes riding on the back of incremental cash supplies from the National Treasury. These cash top-ups have been quoted as funds for expenses such as fuel, travels and maintenance of vehicles.
For instance, State House received Sh3.6 billion in the less than two months to the end of the last financial year. A report by the Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o shows that the National Treasury released the amount between May 14, 2025 and June 24, 2025.
This money was released to allegedly facilitate fuel, travels and hospitality. According to the report, Dr. Nyakang’o had approved Sh2.3 billion out of the Sh3.6 billion that was sent to State House.
The report observed that on May 14, the cabinet secretary for the National Treasury John Mbadi approved the withdrawal of Sh1.5 billion. These funds were then billed as the cover for shortfalls in domestic travels, hospitality supplies, fuel and maintenance of vehicles.
On May 15, Dr. Nyakang’o authorized the withdrawal of Sh358.16 million. On May 21, Sh263.46 million was approved while on May 27, Sh626.5 million was approved. State House then received an additional Sh250 million on May 28.
The report further shows that on June 13, CS Mbadi approved Sh850 million to be used on what was termed as shortfalls under the areas of expenditure for domestic travel, hospitality supplies and services, fuel expenses and maintenance of motor vehicles. However, Dr. Nyakang’o only approved Sh738 million out of these funds.
On May 15, the report states that CS Mbadi approved the withdrawal of some Sh1.25 billion from the Consolidated Fund. However, there was no expenditure request that was forwarded to Dr. Nyakang’o for approval. In total, in the full financial year that ended on June 30, 2025, some Sh17.4 billion was spent without the Dr. Nyakang’o’s approval.
The spendthrift has also been present at the official Office of the President. For instance, in the six-month period to December 2023, State House spent Sh429.9 million while the Office of the President spent Sh223.5 million. These monies were spent on among other things food and entertainment. Overall, in that period, State House spent Sh5.37 billion!
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