Government ministries and agencies spent Sh6.3 billion on tea, mandazis, and other hospitality expenses in the year ending June 30, 2025, according to a new report by the Controller of Budget.

The revelations come despite President William Ruto’s repeated calls for austerity and sweeping cost-cutting measures aimed at helping Kenya navigate its prolonged post-COVID economic struggles.

On average, taxpayers footed a Sh17.2 million daily bill for refreshments and entertainment, underscoring how little progress has been made in curbing state indulgence.

Although the figure marks a slight drop from the Sh7.6 billion spent the previous year, the decline is minimal compared to the government’s tough rhetoric on frugality.

Leading the pack was State House, which racked up Sh1.15 billion—roughly Sh3 million every day—while the Judiciary followed at Sh514.65 million, translating to about Sh1.5 million daily.

State House plays host to high-level diplomatic engagements, political gatherings and has a stream of visitors owing to the nature of the President’s responsibilities.

The State Department for Internal Security and National Administration, according to the report by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, was the third highest Sh490.98 million—about Sh1.3 million daily.

She further raised concerns that state officers were still splurging billions on travel, both local and domestic, in violation of circulars by the National Treasury and the Head of Public Service.

It emerged President Ruto’s office and State House’s spending on domestic travel went up by about Sh900 million, hitting a first-time high of Sh2.5 billion in the period under review. State House spent Sh2.3 billion while the Executive Office of the President spent Sh224 million.

While OP’s foreign travel went up by Sh20 million, State House’s reduced by Sh109 million to stand at Sh189 million compared to last year when it was a few thousand shillings shy of Sh300 million.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki’s local travel spend, however, went down to Sh228 million compared to last year’s Sh441 million (the time of his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua).

DP’s expenditure for foreign trips also went down from last year’s Sh114.9 million to Sh22 million in the period covering June 30, 2025, and so was the office’s hospitality budget.

The CoB report shows the DP’s office expended Sh379 million, a reduction of almost 50 per cent compared to last year’s Sh746 million.

Overall, the expenditure performances by the ministries, state departments and agencies (MDAs) present a mixed bag.

While some expenditures went up drastically, like that on salaries, which rose by Sh47 billion, others have gone down tremendously by hundreds of millions.

Salaries (minus allowances) shot to Sh645.5 billion in the period under study from the previous year’s Sh597 billion.

General supplies went up by Sh340 million, at a time communications expenses went down by Sh200 million.

Domestic travel expenses also reduced by Sh100 million, while foreign trips cost taxpayers Sh1.7 billion less, compared to last year when taxpayers spent Sh9.1 billion on foreign trips by government officers.

Total travel expenditure was Sh25.46 billion, compared to Sh27.34 billion recorded in 2023-24; comprising domestic travel at Sh18.05 billion and foreign travel at Sh7.40 billion.

The National Assembly recorded the highest expenditure on domestic travel, recording Sh4.68 billion, which is attributed to the nature of work by the members of Parliament.

For foreign travel, the State Department for Foreign Affairs recorded the highest at Sh2.52 billion, which is attributed to their nature of activities, seconded by the National Assembly at Sh1.99 billion and followed by the Senate at Sh633.49 million, respectively.

Nyakang’o has in the report cited the violation of circulars by the government, which suspended non-essential foreign travel.

In the order, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei set caps for delegate sizes and the period of travel to seven days, inclusive of the travel dates.

Despite the clampdown on benchmarking and study visits, trainings and capacity building initiatives, state officers did not rest easy and continued to splurge billions.

Nyakang’o wants the government to undertake fiscal consolidation measures as directed from time to time.

“This includes reducing non-essential expenditures such as foreign travel and benchmarking visits. This will help further reduce the budget deficit,” CoB said in the report.