Deputy President William Ruto’s office has in the last four years been experiencing budgetary cuts, each year due to the acrimonious fallout with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
For instance, in the 2020-2021 financial year, Ruto’s office which is housed at Harambee House Annex had its hospitality budget reduced by KSh 174 million and foreign travel by about KSh 50 million.
Furthermore, the allocation for foreign travel dropped from KSh 83 million the previous financial year to KSh 33 million forcing the 2022 presidential election front runner to dig deeper into his pockets to fund operational costs for his office as well as his presidential campaign.
On Wednesday, June 16, Ruto’s spokesperson Emmanuel Tallam confirmed that his boss’s office has had its budget slashed again.
Tallam further stated that civil servants attached to the Kenya Kwanza presidential flag bearer have not been getting their allowances or the money they require to fund their official activities.
“They stopped giving us money one and a half years ago. We do not understand why someone is denying the office of the DP money, yet the National Assembly has been approving the budget, and Treasury making the allocations. The DP has been using his private means to run his political activities,” Tallam told the People Daily.
He said the budget cut has stopped the DP from flying in State-owned helicopters and official vehicles assigned to him.
Ruto has instead resorted to using his private cars and hired helicopters to fund his 2022 presidential campaigns barely 50 days to the August 9, General Election.
This comes barely three months after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani presented to Parliament a supplementary budget for basic salaries and allowances for the President and his deputy.
In the supplementary budget, William Ruto’s basic salary was slashed to KSh 36.4 million up from the proposed KSh 41.2 million.
