Executive Office of the President, Office of the Deputy President and that of Prime Cabinet Secretary requested a cumulative budgetary allocation of Sh29.5 billion during the preparation of the draft budget policy statement (BPS) 2023.
The amount requested by the three offices exceeds Sh27.51 billion that the State Department for Higher Education is still owed by the National Treasury in the current financial year to meet recurrent expenses such as paying lecturers.
The funding request was, however, shot down by the budget office, leaving the three with only Sh14.83 billion draft allocation in total, with Musalia Mudavadi’s Prime Cabinet Secretary office suffering the biggest blow, according to observations by the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security.
President William Ruto’s office was eyeing Sh13.93 billion for the full fiscal year from next July against a resultant BPS ceiling allocation of Sh8.25 billion, leaving it with a budget shortfall of Sh5.68 billion.
Ruto’s office argued that the ceiling allocation ignored the expansion of the roles that necessitated more funds, raising concerns about the austerity measures that were to limit spending to key priority areas amid revenue shortfalls.
The amount was to facilitate three programmes and seven subs-programmes during the period, meet the first lady’s programmes and initiatives, and finance statutory benefits for retired presidents, their deputies and other designated State officers. “The BPS ceiling of Sh8.25 billion did not take care of the expanded mandate for the Executive Office of the President. Some of the expanded mandate included Government Printer, Betting Control and licensing and the Kenya South Sudan Liaison Office,” said Gabriel Tongoyo chairing the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs.
