Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi plans to implement a raft of spending cuts targeting the cost of running public offices in his first budget for the financial year starting July amid shortfalls in tax receipts.
Budget documents tabled in Parliament for debate and approval show Mr Mbadi is proposing to trim the recurrent budget to Sh1.72 trillion from Sh1.73 trillion for the current financial year ending June.
The latest bid for austerity at the national government targeting the cost of administration, operation and maintenance of offices has come despite President William Ruto expanding the size of the Executive arm by creating six new departments in March.
The proposed plan to put a tight lid on non-debt recurrent expenses is in line with the 2025 Budget Policy Statement, a guideline which provides expenditure ceilings for various government ministries, departments and agencies.
“Government will sustain measures to strengthen expenditure control and improve efficiency and effectiveness in public spending. These measures will include… implementation of austerity measures aimed at reducing government recurrent expenditure,” the Treasury wrote in the BPS in February.
Successive governments have over the years struggled to rein in the cost of keeping public offices operating, with costs growing at a faster pace.
In the current financial year, for example, the Treasury originally projected recurrent budgets for State ministries, departments and agencies at Sh1.59 trillion. This has, however, been raised to 1.73 trillion.
State ministries, departments and agencies spent Sh991.75 billion recurrent votes such as on salaries, administration, operation and maintenance of offices in nine months ending March 2025 compared with Sh905.78 billion in a similar period a year earlier.
The Sh85.97 billion increase came in a period Dr Ruto pledged to improve efficiency in public expenditure after deadly protests prompted the government to drop a plan for new and higher taxes.
The increase in recurrent expenditure raced at a pace more than double that of inflation, with average annual rise in prices of goods and services averaging 3.44 percent between July 2024 and March 2025.
This came even after the President vowed to institute budget cuts in the wake of the collapse of Finance Bill 2024. The measures announced included scrapping of budgets for the offices of the first and second ladies were scrapped as well as confidential budgets for the State House and all public offices.
The President also suspended the purchase of new high-end cars, whose cost can top Sh30 million per unit, for first six months, halve government advisers and ensure enforce retirement of public servants on attainment of age 60.
The austerities were in addition to earlier announced removal of non-essential expenditures such as printing, advertising, travel, communication supplies and services, training, hospitality, furniture, refurbishment and vehicle purchase as well as research and feasibility studies for public offices.
