How Uhuru spent Ksh.17 trillion in nine years

The outgoing Jubilee administration has spent nearly Ksh.17 trillion in nine years since its entry in March 2013.

According to analysis of spending outcomes as sourced from the National Treasury Quarterly Economic and Budget Review (QEBR) reports, actual expenditures and net lending across nine financial years (2013/14-2020/21) stand at Ksh.16.656 trillion.

The net spending which only emits debt redemptions includes Ksh.9.8 trillion and Ksh.4.2 trillion in recurrent and development spending respectively.

The recurrent tab includes Ksh.2.4 trillion in debt interest payments which cover Ksh.1.9 trillion in domestic interest payments and Ksh.561.9 billion in foreign interest payments.

At the same time, Uhuru’s administration has spent Ksh.522.4 billion on pension payments while Ksh.3 trillion has been gobbled up by wages and salaries.

Over the course of the nine years, interest payments on debt have seen the largest jump of all spending categories ahead of pensions and development spending.

Combined, interest on debt has soared by 275 per cent to Ksh.495.1 billion in the fiscal year ending in June 2021 compared to Ksh.132 billion in the year to June 2014.

Meanwhile, pension payments have grown by a slightly lower 274 per cent while wages & salaries have grown by 74 per cent in the nine-year period

Development spending has grown by 78.5 per cent moving from Ksh.319.3 billion in the 2013/14 fiscal year to Ksh.569.9 billion in June 2021.

The QEBR data documents actual spending receipts over a financial year providing the real outcomes of expenditures of targets contained at the budget passage date.

The expenditures cover disbursements to county governments, Parliament and the Judiciary.

On Thursday, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani is expected to table Uhuru’s final budget which is estimated at Ksh.3.3 trillion in net terms.

On average, the administration of Uhuru Kenyatta has spent an average of Ksh.1.9 trillion per budget cycle across the nine-year term to June 2021.