President William Ruto dismissed his entire Cabinet, except for Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Musalia Mudavadi was gazetted as the acting CS for all ministries until a new Cabinet is approved by the parliament.
Mudavadi highlighted the expenditure rationalisation and other austerity measures to reduce government’s expenditure
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has told parliamentary budget committee that government has been forced to apply austerity measures after the collapse of Finance Bill 2024 which targeted about Ksh366 Billion
The death of the bill has consequently forced the system to adopt raft measures among them expenditure rationalisation, adjustment of the projected revenue and implementing policy measures to contain wastage
While submitting the budget estimates for the Ministry of National Treasury and Planning flanked by Principal Secretary Dr Chris Kiptoo, Musalia disclosed to the country that he’s not earning any single cent despite acting as CS in all 21 Ministries, following Presidential declaration
“To set records straight and for the avoidance of doubt, I am not earning any coin for acting as Cabinet Secretary in all Ministries reassigned by H.E President William Ruto,” Musalia told Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro led National Assembly Committee on Budget and Appropriations
On the austerity measures, Parliamentary Service Commission has seen the reduction of Ksh 1 billion while National Government Constituency Development Fund (CDF) reduced by Ksh 8.3 billion
Judicial Service Commission has been cut it’s Kshs while the money allocated for school infrastructure improvement was reduced by Ksh 5.2 billion
Ksh 3.3 billion made for private university infrastructure was lost while Kshs 3.3 billion for settlement of landless and Kshs 2 billion for hustler fund all disappeared with the rejected contagious finance bill
National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee chairperson Ndindi Nyoro has explained why expenditure cuts are necessary at all levels of government to address the budget hole following the rejection ofj the finance bill.
Nyoro said Monday that MPs who are among the losers have agreed to accept the reality of having a reduction on CDF despite it being so dear to them.
According to the Kiharu MP, this is the first time the allocation is being cut with no contestation from the members.
“For the first time in my term of service as a MP, I have never had any other chance where CDF is being cut and there is none complaining about it…this is the first time I am seeing it,” he said.
“We are doing that because we know where we are and we need to look at our finances and live within our means.”
Nyoro made the remarks during a committee meeting in which Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo appeared.
Equitable share having a cut of Sh20 billion.
Nyoro noted that the budget cuts affect all levels of government and departments of the national government.
“We have had to look at ourselves internally and inwardly and look at the expenditure that we can postpone and others that we could cancel in a manner that matches the revenue that we expect,” he stated.
Mudavadi acknowledged that the country was in ‘tight’ situation hence the need for radical measures.
“This is the first time in the history of government that a supplementary estimate is coming into place barely a month after the new financial year comes into force…this calls for tough measures,” he said.
The PCS at the same time stated that the ongoing demonstrations in the country are posing serious risks to the economic activities.
He noted that this has affected the collection of revenue and caused negative impacts on tourism as well as business disruption to businesses.