The presidency spent Sh700 million on purchase of motor vehicles

The presidency spent Sh700 million on purchase of motor vehicles, hospitality and catering in the last nine months of the 2013/2014 financial year, a report by the office of the Controller of Budget has revealed. The report shows that the presidency was the highest spender in hospitality and catering services at Sh225.8 million. Further, the presidency spent Sh523.32 million on motor vehicles, which was 15 times more than what was spent by the security services for the same. However, the report does not indicate the specific areas of the presidency that benefitted from the purchase of the motor vehicles. The report also revealed that the Parliamentary Service Commission had the highest expenditure of domestic travel at Sh1.57 billion. This high expenditure could be tied down to frequent travels by individual MPs and House committees.   The Budget Implementation Review Report, which was launched yesterday, gives a cumulative budget performance during the nine months period under review and examines the progress of budget implementation during the period. The Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government spent over Sh36 billion on salaries and allowances, the second highest expenditure in personal emoluments. This amount was higher than the total amount spent in training and purchase of motor vehicles for security personnel. Collectively, the two items gobbled up sh121 million. The Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo said personal emoluments accounted to more than half of total expenditure. “During the period under review, personal emoluments expenditure was Sh196.3 billion, accounting for the highest proportion of recurrent expenditure at 55.8 per cent,” the report reads in part. This brought into focus the ballooning wage bill which has been blamed for lack of resources to implement development projects. “The office has keenly followed the debate on the public wage bill, which needs to be addressed through a national remuneration and benefits policy. The current public service payroll needs to be analysed in order to provide a basis for its rationalisation,” says the report in its foreword.