Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has claimed that the President William Ruto’s office spends the highest amount of money on entertainment, bashes, travel, and hospitality.
While referring to the report by the Controller of Budget, Sifuna said the high amounts result from a twenty-four percent increase in the previous allocations for the named activities.
“We have been told that because of the increase in the cost of living, there has been a 24% increase on the cost of hospitality, the money that is spent by government on bashes, travel, and entertainment.
You will not be surprised that the number government entity spending at least Ksh.2.3 billion on hospitality is the office of the president,” said Sifuna.
To provide solutions to the economic crisis, Sifuna advised the government to cut its spending.
“We all need to tighten our belts, you cannot be asking citizens to tighten their belts when you have removed yours and thrown it away,” he said.
Further, Sifuna gave another example of when the office of the Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua put out an advertisement for seafood supply.
“Why does the DP order for seafood at the expense of the taxpayer’s money, you should cut that spending first before you tell Kenyans to tighten their belts,” stated Sifuna.
VAT Fuel
Additionally, the ODM Secretary General criticized the Kenya Kwanza government for increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel.
“It is a fact that Ksh.79 out of every litre of petrol is tax, it is itemized, and you can tell the percentage going to fuel levy and VAT,” argued Sifuna.
Also, Sifuna said the 8% increase in VAT for fuel is responsible for the Ksh.14 increase in the total cost of fuel.
“It is just a matter of mathematics, if you have added 8% and it is resulting on an increase of Ksh.14 this means that if you take away the 8%, it will take away the Ksh.14,” he explained.
The senator explained that the opposition did not support the imposition of extra taxation on Kenyans due to the harsh economic times.
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“It is having a negative effect, we have seen reports of global companies who operate in Kenya shedding jobs and reduction of taxes because Kenyans are spending less,” said Sifuna.
Further, Sifuna pointed out that President Ruto neither mentioned the war between Russia and Ukraine nor climate change as factors that led to increase in fuel prices during the Jubilee second term in office.
“When he was addressing the cost of fuel as DP, he signaled out state capture and cartels within the oil sector as the reasons why Kenyans very high prices for fuel.
He is there now and for the first time in the history of this country, fuel is retailing above Ksh.200,” he said.
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Sifuna on Borrowing
Moreover, the senator dismissed reports that the Kenya Kwanza government to fund recurrent expenditure.
Sifuna quoted the Controllers of Budget who revealed that the government debt grew by Ksh. 860 billion between April and June 2023.
“Essentially, we are borrowing Ksh.10 billion per day, this is not me, it is the controller of budget,” he said.
Also, Sifuna said President shares in the economic problems facing the country since the debt were accumulated during his tenure as DP.
