Ruto accused of misallocating resources after surpassing full year budget in seven months

President  William Ruto has been accused of misusing State House allocation through campaigns, a move critics argue will hurt development projects.

This follows a report by the National Treasury that State House has used Sh10.4 billion in seven months against the annual allocation of Sh7 billion.

Critics and economic experts argue that the President will now divert monies meant for development to the State House, awaiting approval by the National Assembly, a move they observe will stall the establishment of development projects.

Dr Peter Mbae, Secretary to the Economic and Planning of the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), said the President would not stop spending after surpassing the allocation but will draw money meant for projects and then seek Parliamentary approval under Article 223 of the Constitution.

The article permits the national government to spend money not yet appropriated by Parliament if an amount is insufficient, a new need arises, or money is needed from the Contingencies Fund. Such expenditures must be approved by Parliament within two months of the first withdrawal.

“This, therefore, means that key development projects such as roads and water will be adversely affected as the monies will be diverted to the State House. The sad part is that the monies are used to bribe voters so that they can re-elect Ruto in next year’s polls,’ Dr Mbae noted.

He said this is not the first time monies meant for development are diverted to recurrent expenditure after Sh300 billion was moved to the recurrent vote head to allow Ruto to continue dishing out money to buy the approval.

“This is a leader who believes that every man has a price; he thinks money can buy anything and that is why we need to remove him from the Presidency next year,” Mbae added.

He estimated that by the end of next year, the State House will have used between Sh20 billion and Sh30 billion, most of which he claimed will go to individual Kenyans.

“Ruto believes in a consumption economy where he takes raw cash to Kenyans, that is his philosophy, he can’t change so unless Kenyans wake up and say no by voting him out, we shall continue experiencing such problems,” Mbae said in an interview.

On his part, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua claimed the President had turned State House into the epicenter of corruption, bribery and partisan politics.

He claimed the huge delegates that visited the State House received money in envelopes in his effort to revive his ‘dying political fortunes’ after facing rejection from Kenyans.

 “William Ruto has really encouraged people to participate in corruption. He is bribing people openly on the lawns of the State House. He calls people to the State House and gives them bribes. State House has become a scene of crime,” Gachagua said.

Gachagua extended his criticism to the National Assembly, accusing both the Senate and the National Assembly of being complicit in corruption, allegedly taking cue from the President’s conduct.

“Once the President has shown the country that bribery is a way of life, parliamentarians have learnt from him,” he said. “The Senate and the National Assembly have become a theatre of corruption.”

According to Gachagua, corruption in Kenya has now been formalized and embedded within governance structures.

“We even have budgeted corruption. Corruption has been institutionalised,” he said. “Whenever the President is not available to bribe them, somebody else must do it. Bribery has become a normal way of life in this country.”

 Mwangi Macharia, the Organising Secretary of the Democratic Party, said it was unfortunate that the President was engaged in an early campaign by way of dishing out money to Kenyans when drought had taken a toll on the Northern region, threatening women, children, and livestock.

“It is completely appalling that we are getting these facts at a time when some citizens are confessing that they haven’t cooked since January. The government needs to embrace humanity. You'd better suspend all infrastructure development to feed the citizens. A Declaration of emergency needs to be done, but they are afraid since we are facing a general election next year,” Macharia said.

He said it was distasteful that the government had resulted in tokenism, wasteful expenditure, runaway corruption, and poor leadership, saying that the President has undone the progress achieved by previous regimes and left the country without a clear policy direction.