President William Ruto. Offices under the Presidency spent Sh33 billion in the year to June 2026.
Offices under the Presidency spent Sh33 billion in the year to June 2026, the highest amount ever consumed by the highest-ranking state officials, a new report by the Treasury shows.
The spending by offices that include President William Ruto’s, his deputy Kithure Kindiki’s and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s, sets a new record in the cost of facilitating activities by top State officials, with over 90 per cent of the money going into recurrent activities.
It saw cumulative spending by Kenya’s Presidency hit Sh100.23 billion since the Kenya Kwanza administration took over in 2022.
The four-year spend by Ruto’s Presidency dwarfs the Sh89.9 billion that his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, spent during his 10-year reign, an analysis of budget books shows.
State House delegations and Sh81m daily spend
The National Treasury’s Economic and Budgetary Review Report for the 2025/26 fiscal year shows that State House splashed Sh18.4 billion in President Ruto’s second last budget year before 2027 General Elections, amid a flurry of activities that have included his hosting of delegations at the House on the Hill, as campaigns gain momentum.
President William Ruto addresses a delegation of grassroots leaders from Makueni County at State House Nairobi.
In the last quarter of the year specifically, April to June 2026, State House spent Sh6.8 billion, which translates to an average of about Sh570 million weekly, or Sh81.3 million daily.
The President hosted several major events at the State House during the three-month period, a number of which had thousands of attendees, such as Maendeleo ya Wanawake members on April 1, 2026, several delegations of grassroots leaders from different counties, and a high-level State Banquet for Africa Forward Summit delegates on May 11.
State House under President Ruto has been a beehive of activities, often at huge bills. Between July 2022 and June 2026, it spent a cumulative Sh43 billion (43 per cent of the Sh100 billion the Presidency has consumed.
In the first quarter of the 2025/26 fiscal year, it spent Sh4.56 billion, which fell to Sh3.17 billion in the second quarter, rose slightly to Sh3.85 billion in the quarter to March 2026, before shooting up by two-thirds to Sh6.83 billion in the final quarter.
Of the total Sh18.4 billion State House spending during the year, Sh17.12 billion went into facilitating recurrent activities that include paying workers, fueling high-end vehicles and paying per diems and air tickets for officials taking trips in and out of the country, and paying for food served to visitors who have flocked it in recent months.
During the current fiscal year, State House is budgeted to spend about Sh13.5 billion, though this might change to a higher figure during budget revisions.
President and DP’s office
The Executive Office of the President followed State House with a spending of Sh8 billion, out of which Sh6.68 billion funded recurrent activities.
The office’s spending during the year averaged Sh667.75 million monthly, or Sh22 million each of the 365 days.
DP Kindiki’s office spent Sh5.2 billion with only Sh100 million used to fund development activities, while PCS Mudavadi’s splashed the entire Sh602 million on recurrent activities.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki.
The Presidency also includes the State Department for Parliamentary Affairs, which spent Sh433 million, and the State Department for Cabinet Affairs, which spent Sh226 million during the year.
This means that spending by President Ruto’s office, his deputy’s, PCS Mudavadi’s and State House constituted 98 per cent of the Sh32.9 billion overall expenditure by the Presidency.
In the 2024/25 fiscal year, the Presidency spent Sh21 billion, which was lower than the Sh22.8 billion spent the previous year, and Sh23.3 billion spent during the first year, 2022/23.
While explaining the huge spending by the Presidency in April, State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said all expenditures are appropriated by MPs, adding that the offices’ work is seen through what ministries and agencies do.
Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi.
“The offices under the Presidency primarily perform policy, coordination, and executive support functions rather than acting as direct project-implementing entities. Their outputs are therefore reflected in the effective functioning of government as a whole, including coordination of Cabinet business, facilitation of the legislative agenda, inter-ministerial alignment, and support to the President and Deputy President in the execution of their constitutional mandates.
“Outcomes attributable to these offices are consequently embedded across sectoral achievements delivered by ministries, departments, and agencies whose work they coordinate and support,” Mr Mohamed said.
Treasury reported that during the year, the national government spent Sh4.48 trillion, out of which Sh721.5 billion went into development projects.
Public agencies expenditure
“The total ministerial and other public agencies expenditure, including A.I.A was Sh2,550.1 billion against a target of Sh2,931.7 billion. Recurrent expenditure was Sh1,828.6 billion against a target of Sh2,041.9 billion, while development expenditure amounted to Sh721.5 billion against a target of Sh889.9 billion,” Treasury said.
This means that the Sh32.89 billion spending by the Presidency during the year constituted 1.29 per cent of the total spending in government during the year.
In comparison to other crucial government agencies, the cumulative spending by the Presidency during the year is more than twice the Sh13.7 billion allocated to the State Department for the ASALs and Regional Development, 3.3 times the Sh9.9 billion spent by the State Department for Irrigation, and four times the Sh8 billion allocation to the State Department for Co-operatives.
It also surpassed the Sh10 billion spent by the State Department for Livestock Development, Sh10.8 billion allocation to the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), and almost matched the Sh33.3 billion funded to Kenya’s public health.
During the 10 years of President Uhuru Kenyatta between 2013 and 2022, the Presidency spent Sh89.9 billion, including Sh36.27 billion during his first term and Sh53.7 billion during his final term.
Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.
