This archive report was first published on 21 June 2020.
On June 20, Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang'o released a report revealing that government officials across various ministries and parastatals spent Ksh12.1 billion on travel expenses between July 2019 and March 2020.
Despite the austerity measures announced by the National Government to curb spending, the government's hospitality expenses also depleted Ksh4.5 billion during the same period.
The report also highlighted that the government failed to achieve the development absorption expenses target of 75%, only managing a 60.8% absorption.
Recurrent expenditure at both the national and county government was also a cause for concern, with Ksh80.9 billion of the Ksh117.29 billion disbursed between July and December 2019 being exhausted in recurrent expenditures alone.
Nairobi led the pack with recurring costs standing at Ksh10.5 billion, while only Ksh625 million was spent on development projects, as outlined in the report.
On September 27, 2019, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani announced a raft of new austerity measures to rein in spending by public officials in the face of ballooning debt and reduced revenue collections.
Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich had earlier announced similar measures in June 2019, which included cutting back on non-crucial budget allocations and freezing non-essential spending.
“We are reviewing the budget to ensure that all expenditures are as productive as possible and also areas we will slow down we will obviously do that so that we can achieve less borrowing in the market,” Rotich announced at the time.
CS Yatani echoed his predecessor's sentiments a couple of months later, reiterating that there was no room for budget deficits, now estimated at Ksh600 billion, fuelled by the State’s borrowing to finance development amid unmet revenue targets.
