The budget allocation is eight times more than had been allotted to the department in the estimates for the financial year 2022/23 by the previous administration.
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta is also set to benefit. However, the greatest beneficiary is Deputy President Gachagua, whose car budget has been increased from KSh90.8m ($692,000) to KSh290.8m ($2.2m).
Gachagua has defended the allocation of more funds to his office, saying it is meant to distinguish his office, unlike the previous administration which he says diminished the DP’s office.
“The government is trying to dignify the office again,” he said.
“This is a waste of public funds to pay for the leaders’ luxurious lifestyle when they should instead be focusing on addressing the high cost of living,” says Makau Mutua, a close ally and political adviser of opposition chief Raila Odinga.
Ruto, Rigathi, Mudavadi get KES 802M for new carshttps://t.co/N70D8uRJrZ pic.twitter.com/gj4HDfJKyb
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) March 21, 2023
“Kenyans are dying from hunger and can’t afford basic needs, including school fees. Ruto hasn’t initiated a single project except for the failed Hustler Fund,” he said in a tweet.
Breaking the promise
Addressing parliament last September, President Ruto committed to curbing wasteful spending and containing the national debt, with a promise to economically empower ordinary Kenyans, who refers to as hustlers.
Why is this government doing this? It should concentrate on feeding hungry Kenyans, not buying new cars.
Francis Auma, human rights defender from the Mombasa-based Muslims For Human Rights (MUHURI), tells The Africa Report that his organisation is heading to court to stop the purchase of the new cars.
“This is impunity. We reject this reckless move,” he says.
Auma accuses the Ruto administration of neglecting the suffering of ordinary people and wants the funds to be redirected to help the people.
“Why is this government doing this? It should concentrate on feeding hungry Kenyans, not buying new cars.”
Nairobi boda boda [motorcycle taxi] driver Edwin Makate, 32, voted for Ruto in the last election, but now regrets his decision.
“Ruto has forgotten his promises to us. He is now working for the rich. I support the opposition protests,” he says.
Entitled to luxury cars
But Nairobi-based economic analyst Johnson Denge has a different perspective.
He tells The Africa Report that top national leaders are entitled to the very best for their comfort and security, and that the money was set aside after creating the office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary.
“Looking at the increased budget to buy cars, the money is not too much of a burden to taxpayers,” he says.
However, Denge says the Ruto government should come out and clearly communicate to the public – especially to ordinary Kenyans – why it was necessary to make the decision.
The purchase comes in the backdrop of President Ruto’s latest move to appoint 50 new chief administrative secretaries, primarily putting in place his political allies who lost political seats.
The car buying and the overall increase of the budget for recurrent expenses from KSh87m ($662,857) to KSh1.27trn ($7.8bn) is expected to rise, a move that the opposition is expected to capitalise on during weekly anti-Ruto protests set for Mondays and Thursdays.
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