Staff remuneration expenditure in the Office of the Deputy President nearly tripled in the quarter ended September 2024 at a time when the ousted office holder Rigathi Gachagua was walking a tightrope in the weeks before his impeachment in mid-October.
Fresh disclosures by the Controller of Budget (COB) show that compensation to employees during the period grew 180.1 percent to hit Sh230.86 million up from Sh82.42 million during a similar period ended September 2023.
The spike in the wage bill drove the overall recurrent expenditure in the DP’s office to rise by 61.5 percent to Sh425.87 million, up from Sh263.62 million spent during the first quarter of the 2023/24 fiscal year.
Other expenditure areas that recorded a significant jump during the period included routine maintenance of motor vehicles whose spending rose over 15-fold to Sh25.87 million up from Sh1.6 million in a corresponding period the previous year, while the purchase of fuel oil and lubricants rose almost two-fold to Sh30.18 million up from Sh11.02 million.
Others were utilities supplies and services, which include water and electricity bills, whose spending jumped 93.5 percent to Sh8.63 million from Sh4.46 million, hospitality spending which rose 14.4 percent to Sh44.45 million from Sh38.86 million, as well as communication supplies and services which grew from nil to Sh6.73 million.
Both domestic and foreign travel expenses dipped, with the latter dropping at a faster pace of 94.5 percent to Sh1.72 million down from the Sh31.48 million spent in a similar quarter the previous year, while the former went down 18.9 percent to Sh42.12 million from Sh51.95 million.
In July last year, the office had borne the heaviest brunt of recurrent budget cuts at the top level of government after the first Supplementary Budget for the current fiscal year slashed Sh1.87 billion from the earlier planned recurrent spend, compared to Sh647 million and Sh419 million cuts slashed from the offices of the President and the Prime Cabinet Secretary respectively.
The recurrent budget in the DP’s office was at the time revised down to Sh2.69 billion down from the Sh4.57 billion earlier allocated.
The Treasury in the revised budget that came following the rejection of the Finance Bill 2024 by a popular youth-led revolt, slashed Sh1 billion from the DP’s support services, including travel (Sh113 million), hospitality (Sh240 million), and purchase of vehicles (Sh100 million).
Mr Gachagua was impeached on October 17, 2024, in a hurried process that saw former Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki take over the second most powerful office on the land.
The ousted DP has sustained attacks against his ex-boss President William Ruto and his government, terming his removal from office unprocedural and politically motivated.
