The Administration and Internal Security Committee has questioned the hefty spending on projects by the office of the former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua while in office in the financial year 2023/24.
The Committee on Administration and Internal Security, chaired by Gabriel Tongoyo, Narok West Member of Parliament (MP), held a meeting with the Office of the Deputy President (ODP) and the State Department for Immigration on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, regarding the status report on Budget Implementation for the 3rd and 4th Quarters of the Financial Year 2023/24.
During the meeting, the Principal Assistant Secretary in the ODP, Moses Mbaruku, apprised the Committee that the office was allocated Ksh4.756 billion, comprising Ksh4.356 billion recurrent and Ksh400 million development expenditures.
“At the end of the financial year, the office spent a total of Ksh. 4.729 billion, representing an absorption of 99.4% of the total allocation,” Mbaruku said in a statement.
Further, Mbaruku noted that various developmental projects were undertaken during the period under review, which involved the refurbishment of buildings at Harambee Annex, Karen residence and former PC’s office in Mombasa, under the Ksh400 million allocations.
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Status of the Refurbishment Projects
The chairperson, Tongoyo, further enquired on the status of the refurbishment projects that are being undertaken within the five years up to June 2027, with the report presented indicating that the Harambee Annex is at 22%, Karen residence at 45% and the former PC’s office in Mombasa at 21%.
“For instance, the refurbishment of the Karen residence is estimated to cost Ksh560 million, but you only got Ksh250 million for this financial year and you say the project is 45 percent complete. Is that the correct status of the project?” Tongoyo asked.
In a rejoinder, the Vice-chairperson, Saku Constituency MP in Marsabit County Dido Rasso also questioned why such hefty amounts are being spent, and if indeed there is value for money in these projects.
While, responding, Ann Mwangi, the Director for Planning, detailed some of the areas that have been done and those that are yet to be done on the three projects.
“You realize that the refurbishment of the buildings, both at Harambee Annex and Karen residence, as well as Mombasa residence, ran for five years. So, when you talk about the estimated value of the project, this is the refurbishment that will go through five years. And we had quite several things that needed to be done. Some have already been done, others have not,” she replied.
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Expenditure Money Allocated to the Gachagua Office
Separately, the State Department for Immigration, in their report, submitted an allocation of Ksh8.85 billion for recurrent, and Ksh3 billion development expenditure, out of which they spent Ksh8.78 billion in recurrent and Ksh3.9 billion in development expenditure.
Notably, some of the key achievements by the State Department during the period under review include implementing the Presidential directive on the visa-free regime by operationalizing the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA).
Additionally, the department acquired two high-end Passport Personalization printers, issuance of 539,810 e-passports, 28,121 work permits, 186,892 Temporary Permits, 566,294 visas and 666,475 ETAs.
The State Department collected revenue totaling Ksh17.4 billion through its various services, out of which Ksh1.7 billion was retained to defray expenditure; KsH750 million for development and Ksh950 million for development expenditure.
The current review of financial spending in the DP’s office continues to raise concerns, with growing alarms about his spending habits as more answers are being demanded for clarity.
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