The National Treasury has tabled the first supplementary budget to the National Assembly, with a slew of new allocations and reallocations, including Ksh.12 billion for the Hustler Fund.
Treasury, on the other hand, appears to fall short in implementing government austerity measures, having deducted Ksh.106 billion from development spending only to reallocate Ksh.92.2 billion to recurrent expenditure, leaving the government with savings of only Ksh.13.3 billion.
The State Department of Cooperatives has seen its allocation increase from Ksh 2.3 billion to Ksh.22 billion in the first supplementary budget presented to parliament by Treasury boss Prof. Njuguna Ndungu, with Ksh.12 billion set aside for President William Ruto’s election pledge project, the Hustler Fund.
Prof. Ndungu explained that the decisions were made due to emerging priorities and emergencies, such as the drought that has hit the country, which has seen the State Department for Arid and Semi-arid Lands receive an additional Ksh.6.3 billion, bringing the total allocation to Ksh.16.7 billion.
State Department for Interior and Citizen Services’ budget has been reduced from Ksh.143.5 billion to Ksh.112.1 billion, a Ksh.31 billion decrease. The Ministry of Water and Sanitation’s budget will be reduced from Ksh. 83.9 billion to Ksh.59.7 billion.
The Ksh.13.3 billion in ministerial deductions is a far cry from the Ksh.300 billion in recurrent expenditure cuts promised by President William Ruto, which would be ploughed back into the development budget.
Despite the budget cuts, the National Treasury has allocated Ksh.200 million in the supplementary budget for State House operations and maintenance, while the deputy president’s office has been allocated Ksh.45 million for the implementation of planned activities.
Prof. Ndungu explained that the rationale for the supplementary budget waste is to provide additional funding for emerging priorities and emergencies, fund previously approved reallocations, and rationalize the budget to align with the revised government reorganization under Executive Order No. 1 of 2023.
Furthermore, the National Treasury states that the government will continue to implement tax reforms by modernizing and simplifying tax laws in order to increase the tax revenue base.
