Deputy President William Ruto is one of the government officials who have seriously been affected by the 2020/2021 budget cuts in order for the country to cope up with changing economic times.
According to budget estimates expected to be tabled in Parliament by Treasury CS Ukur Yattani on Thursday, June 11, the office of the DP suffered a 40 per cent slash from Ksh2.4 billion this year to Ksh1.4 billion.
In the new estimates, the DP will have to significantly limit his entertainment after its budget was reduced from Ksh197 million to Ksh23.9 million, registering an 87 per cent drop.
The budget also sought to clip his travel needs reducing domestic travel from 193 million to Ksh96 million while international travel was reduced from Ksh89 million to Ksh33 million.
This comes months after the DP was accused of traversing the country to drum up support for his 2022 presidential bid even after explaining that the travels were part of government's programme to launch state's projects.
His fuel costs were also reduced from Ksh28 million to Ksh14 million.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's State House budget also suffered a 29 per cent reduction from Ksh5.4 billion to Ksh3.8 billion while the Cabinet Affairs budget got revised downwards from Ksh2.8 billion to Ksh2.2 billion.
The office of the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, however, was the biggest beneficiary in the estimates after it made an entry for the first time and had a full year budget allocated for it alongside retired presidents.
The treasury allocated Ksh71.9 million to Raila's office with a sizeable Ksh26 aimed at securing luxury cars for his office.
Other allocations included Ksh10 million for furniture, Ksh20 million for insurance and Ksh10 million for his staff.
This comes as the state scrambles to settle its debt that has since surpassed Ksh5.9 trillion as it plans to borrow an additional Ksh823 billion to fill the deficit.
“The Fiscal Deficit is projected at 7.3 per cent of GDP, indicating a widening scenario compared to the previous projection of 4.9 per cent of GDP due to the need to meet critical expenditure needs in the context of an economic slowdown and the ensuing revenue underperformance.
"The uniqueness of the ongoing crisis means maintaining a significantly low deficit may not be a priority at the moment,” stated the Parliamentary Budget Office.
