Gov't spent Ksh.14.3 billion to buy vehicles in 2023 - Revealed

Kenyan taxpayers paid Ksh.14.3 billion in 2023 to facilitate the government's opulent nature of purchasing and maintaining new vehicles, a new draft policy has revealed.

The revelation has raised speculations over the government's political doublespeak at a time when they have been preaching austerity measures to reflect the country's status quo. 

According to the Government Transport Policy, 2024 drafted by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, Kenyan taxpayers have had to increasingly pay more yearly to foot the government's fleet expenditure.

Data from the policy showed that budgetary allocation increased from Ksh.8.6 billion in 2021 to Ksh.9.7 billion in 2022 and then Ksh.14.3 billion in 2023. 

The CS further pointed out that Ksh.12.2 billion was budgeted for in the year 2023/24 to purchase and maintain new vehicles.

According to Mbadi, the sharp increase has been occasioned by fueling, operations and maintenance costs.

"Apart from the inefficiencies in executing fleet operations, other key factors informing the historical rising trend in the costs include rising global fuel costs, and the increasing number of officials entitled to government transport due to operationalization of the devolved system of governance and creation of more Executive offices," read part of the policy.

The CS pointed out failures in controlling operations as to who gets entitled to official government transport, leading to increased costs.

"What is important to observe here is that the bill for providing government transport will continue to rise if appropriate policy interventions are not put in place," Mbadi noted.

To mitigate the situation, the CS proposed the formation of a new agency called 'Government Fleet Management Department (GFMD)' which will be domiciled within National Treasury.

The department will be required to regulate the sector and guide how the government purchases vehicles in a bid to cut on costs and at the same time boost local businesses.

The policy also proposes a computerised fuel monitoring system that will allow vehicle users to refuel their vehicles with a key containing a chip that is identified by the owner's personal Identification number.

The information stored in the chip will be sent to a central server which will enable GFMD to adjust budgets in line with the fuel consumption.

The lavish lifestyle of elected leaders has in the past been called into question in with taxpayers been forced to shoulder the burden of the leaders' opulence.

This led to the Gen Z protests that occurred in June to August 2024, with Kenyans demanding for accountability.