Government officials have been denied entertainment during official state events to save finances that will fund the upcoming presidential elections and food relief to counter drought.
Besides entertainment, the officials have also been denied purchase of new furniture and snacks in state offices, large entourage, foreign and local visits, hospitality treatment and other luxuries they enjoy in office.
Speaking at the Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC) on Friday, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich noted that the polls might cost an upwards of Sh15 Billion hence the state has been forced to tighten its belt to finance it.
"To fund some of those emerging priorities, we have to restructure some expenditure, and we are targeting non-essential spending particularly travel, both domestic and foreign. Foreign is banned for now so that we can allow resources available to be directed to conduct another election,” he said.
He further indicated that the government finances would only be channelled to critical sectors like health, education and security.
The announcement comes in the wake of the economic slowdown that has been caused by the political stalemate in the country as well as the ongoing droughts in various parts of the country.
He further pointed out that the move by the finance department is one of the measures aimed at securing adequate funds to support the free secondary education which is set to begin next year.
The austerity measures will affect both the counties and national government.
