The Office of the President and the State House spent a whopping Sh. 653 million on hospitality in six months.
This is according to a report by the Controller of Budget. According to the report, the two offices spent the month in the six month period to December 2023. State House spent Sh. 429.9 million while the Office of the President spent Sh. 223.5 million.
These monies were spent on among other things food and entertainment.
Besides President Ruto’s office was Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s office which spent some Sh. 206.9 million on hospitality in the same period.
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In the same period, the Judiciary spent Sh. 215.6 million on hospitality, while the National Treasury spent Sh. 212.2 million. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is headed by Musalia Mudavadi spent Sh. 203.4 million in the period.
These figures come hot on the heels of the National Treasury’s budgetary review report which indicated that that State House spent Sh. 5.37 billion in the six-month period to December 2023.
This spending saw the State House overshoot its allocated budget by Sh. 447 million. In late 2023, State House got an additional Sh. 2.53 billion in the supplementary budget.
These allocations were claimed to have been purposed for personnel emolument, enhanced operations and maintenance expenses, refurbishment of buildings and other civil works.
A previous report by the Controller of Budget showed that State House spent Sh. 2.4 billion on travel and luxuries in the six months period between October 2022 and March 2023.
At the same time, the Executive Office of the President spent a total of Sh. 2.369 billion on travel, hospitality, fuel and maintenance of motor vehicles alone.
Besides this spending, State House is also undergoing renovations whose cost will be Sh. 795 million. This is an increase of Sh. 600 million from the initial Sh. 195.4 million.
Apparently, Sh. 620 million will be used for construction while Sh. 149.02 million will be used to refurbish parts of the current building.
An additional Sh. 26.4 million will be used for the purchase of specialized plant, equipment and machinery.