Ministries splurge Sh3.8bn on parties in nine months

Ministries increased their entertainment spend in the nine months to March by Sh1.55 billion, defying an austerity drive to curb wastage.

Public offices spent Sh3.8 billion million on parties and receptions in the nine months, up from Sh2.25 million in a similar period a year earlier and in a period when the state called for a cut on non-essential spending such as travel and hospitality.

The Interior ministry, Foreign Affairs, the Treasury and the Presidency, which includes President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto’s office, accounted for the largest share of the hospitality spend, says the Controller of Budget.

The four spent a total of Sh2.4 billion over the period to entertain staff and guests or 64.2 per cent of the hospitality expenditure, leaving the remaining 60 public offices to share Sh1.4 billion.

The increases defy calls by the Treasury and President Kenyatta for cuts on non-essential spending.

Top government officials are no longer allowed to travel abroad without clearance from the President and domestic travel is also restricted. But spending on travel jumped by Sh3.4 billion to Sh11.9 billion in the period under review.

The directive is a product of funding gaps following below budget revenue performance due to the slower economic growth that left the Kenya Revenue Authority with a Sh95 billion tax hole in the nine months to March.

This prompted proposed cuts to the government’s spending plan across the board.

The CoB figures indicate that the Interior ministry tops the list of big spenders after it blew Sh1.08 billion on entertainment. That level of expenditure is more than four times the Sh241 million it spent on entertainment in the first nine months of the 2017/18 financial year.

Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i heads the Interior ministry.

The Presidency came second with a nine-month entertainment expenditure of Sh758 million.