BUDGET: Ruto to get Sh100m more for local travel
Deputy President William Ruto has been allocated an extra Sh100 million for local travel in the revised budget that was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, even as the government maintains it is committed to cutting non-essential spending.
The allocation contained in a mini-budget represents a 163 per cent increase above the Sh61 million that Mr Ruto was to spend on local travel this year.
It comes barely a month after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered that travel budgets for ministries, departments and agencies be cut by half to funnel more funds into development spending.
RUTO BUDGET
Robert Shaw, a Nairobi economist, described the 163 per cent budget increase for Mr Ruto’s office as going above acceptable margins, saying a 10-20 per cent rise would be appropriate.
“Whatever public duties he is doing, we have to bear in mind that there has to be more prudent use of public resources,” Mr Shaw said.
“This is especially so if you consider that some of this is borrowed money and that there is a desperate need for money to be spent on basic services like education and health.”
Overall, the Office of the Deputy President has been allocated an extra Sh271 million in the mini-budget — to be spent in the remaining three months of the fiscal year ending June.
The additional amount is earmarked for payment of rent and other office expenses.
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SOURCE: Business Daily
