State House is seeking reinstatement of Sh1.7 billion out of the Sh5 billion budget cut it suffered to enable it to pay staff of the disbanded office of First Lady Rachael Ruto.
State House comptroller Katoo Ole Metito on Thursday urged MPs to consider reinstating at least Sh1.7 billion which includes Sh591 million meant for paying staff at the office of the First Lady.
Despite the disbandment of the office by President William Ruto as part of the austerity measures following the rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024, Mr Ole Metito told MPs that the staff had a running contract which the state must obey.
Mr Ole Metito, while appearing before the committee on administration and internal security, over supplementary budget estimates said some of the staff at the office have three while others have five-year contracts running and must therefore be compensated even if the office was disbanded.
“These people had contracts and stopping them like that would attract legal consequences,” Mr Ole Metito said.
He was responding to Saku MP Dido Raso who sought to know about the fate of the employees in the office of the First Lady.
“Yes, you have abolished the office of the First Lady, I understand that because it is not a constitutional office but what is the fate of the young men and women employed there because they are innocent and should not be punished for the sake of others,” Mr Raso posed.
He told the lawmakers that even if the staff were to be sent home, they would still have to be paid at least two months’ salary in compliance with labour laws.
Mr Ole Metito said State House has paid the heaviest prices in the budget cuts announced, urging the committee to consider reinstating some of the cuts in order to allow operations of the office of the President to continue normally.
The First Lady’s officer had been allocated Sh696 million representing a 17.3 per cent increase from last year’s budgetary allocation of Sh593.9 million.
In the mini-budget presented to parliament, the National Treasury scrapped the budget lines for the offices of the First Lady and Second Lady Dorcas Gachagua, a move that saved taxpayers a combined expenditure of Sh1.25 billion in this financial year.
Among the budget lines that Mr Ole Metito wants reinstated include Sh591.9 million that will go towards compensation of employees at the office of the First Lady, Sh37.9 million for communication, supplies and services at State House and Sh389.9 million for both domestic travel and other transportation costs.
Others that Mr Ole Metito want MPs to reinstate are Sh114,642,002 meant for foreign travel, Sh25,668,265, Sh43,917,240 for rentals of produced assets and Sh532,144,973 for hospitality supplies and services
“I’m appealing to this committee to reconsider reinstatement of Sh1, 736,305,955 under recurrent vote which are critical budget items for operations and compensation of employees,” Mr Ole Metito said.
He pointed out hospitality for instances in which he said President Ruto continues to host other Presidents and guests at the State House hence the budget line is critical for his operations.
“I understand we need to reduce the budget but we need to do it in a reasonable way not to close the office,” he added.
In the revised budget, all the billions that were earmarked for the refurbishment of three State Houses in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru and other State Lodges have now been shelved.
In the initial budget, State House was seeking Sh1.5 billion for the refurbishment of the State Houses and State Lodges in the 2024/2025 financial year increasing to Sh1.8 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year and Sh1.5 billion in the 2026/2027 financial year.
Sh250 million was earmarked for the refurbishment of State House Nairobi, Sh240 million for the Mombasa State House and another Sh200 million for the refurbishment of buildings at Nakuru State House.
State House had also requested for Sh270 million for refurbishment of the fence and main House at Mombasa State House and Sh200 million for the State House in Nakuru.
Other millions of taxpayers that were earmarked for refurbishment of State Lodges across the country include Sh125 million for refurbishment of buildings at Eldoret State Lodge, Sh35 million for the facelift of Sagana State Lodge while refurbishment of buildings at Kisumu State Lodge was set to cost taxpayers Sh14.90 million while refurbishments of buildings at Kakamega State Lodge was set to cost Sh15 million.
Refurbishments of Kisii State Lodge was allocated Sh19 million while the one at Mtito Andei was allocated Sh5 million for refurbishment.
The millions allocated for the refurbishments had raised public uproar as Kenyans were struggling with high cost of living while money was being allocated to areas deemed unnecessary.
However, in the revised budget, there is no allocation for the refurbishment of State Houses and lodges.
