State House Nairobi has received an additional Sh3.7 billion in the third supplementary budget for the financial year ending June 30, with the extra funding set to mostly cover domestic travel.
The National Treasury tabled its third supplementary budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year on Wednesday, less than a fortnight to the end of the financial cycle.
Funding for domestic travel and other transport costs at State House Nairobi has been increased to Sh2.1 billion, up from Sh933.1 million previously. Other unassigned operating expenses have, meanwhile, been raised to Sh3.1 billion from Sh1.36 billion previously.
The National Treasury said the additional allocation covers extra recurrent spending requirements for the State House.
“This is the supplementary estimate of the amount required in the year ending June 30, 2025, for salaries and expenses of State House including State lodges, administration of statutory benefits to retired presidents, vice presidents, other State officers, presidential communication service and policy analysis and research,” the exchequer said.
Other expenditure increases by State House Nairobi include a bump on the salaries of permanent employees to Sh1.21 billion from Sh1.11 billion, higher spending on hospitality supplies and services at Sh1.05 billion from Sh663.8 million, and increased allocations to the routine maintenance of vehicles at Sh497.5 million from Sh262.5 million.
The allocation on the administration of statutory benefits of retired presidents and vice presidents has, meanwhile, seen a cut of Sh81.4 million on the reduction of insurance costs.
The third supplementary budget proposes increasing the overall budget for the year to June 30 by Sh18.9 billion.
Other big winners from the mini-budget being the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the State Department of Higher Education, Internal Security, and the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
The biggest losers include the State Department for Basic Education, Economic Planning, Roads, Medical Services, and Transport.
The third supplementary budget estimates are premised on missed revenue targets in the current fiscal year, but the adjustments show increased spending by the government.
Presenting a third supplementary budget for the first time since the 2020/21 cycle has raised questions about the credibility of revenue targets.
The National Treasury has blamed the revenue shortfalls on social unrest at the start of the current fiscal cycle, while denying that it set overly ambitious targets.
“The revenue shortfalls have resulted from several factors. One is social unrest that was witnessed between June and August which affected businesses. Second is the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024 from which we expected to collect approximately Sh344.3 billion,” the National Treasury Director General- Budget, Fiscal and Economic Affairs Albert Mwenda said previously.
“There has generally been a slowdown in economic activity. The economy grew by 4.7 percent down from 5.7 percent in the previous year. There has been delayed disbursements and the accumulation of pending bills, which reflect a delay in the release of working capital to businesses.”
The exchequer was forced to table its first mini-budget early in the fiscal year after the rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024.
The second mini-budget was enforced by the underwhelming performance of new tax measures legislated in December last year.
Revenue collection for the first nine months of the fiscal year to March 2025 underperformed the target by Sh132.6 billion.
