CoB flags Sh44 million spending by Deputy President’s spouse’s office
CoB flags Sh44 million spending by Deputy President’s spouse’s office
The Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President, headed by Dr Joyce Njagi, has drawn scrutiny after spending Sh44.52 million in the first half of the 2025/26 financial year, despite receiving no budget allocation from Parliament.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o highlighted the spending in her National Government Budget Implementation Review report covering July 1 to December 31, 2025, currently before Parliament.
The report raises questions over the legitimacy of the expenditure, as the office of the deputy president’s spouse is not formally recognised in the Constitution for the use of public funds.
“The Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President had no budgetary allocation in the period under review, but incurred expenditure of Sh44.52 million,” Nyakang’o said.
While the Deputy President’s office is tasked with coordinating and supervising government policies, plans, programmes, and projects, supporting the spouse’s office is not part of its official mandate.
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The report suggests that the office may have operated through the Deputy President’s office, which was allocated Sh3.07 billion in 2025/26, slightly down from Sh3.22 billion in 2024/25.
In 2024, President William Ruto ordered the removal of budgets for the offices of the First Lady and the spouses of the Deputy President and the Prime Cabinet Secretary.
This decision was part of austerity measures meant to align government spending with reduced revenue, following the scrapping of the 2024 Finance Bill that aimed to raise Sh346 billion amid youth protests against proposed taxation.
At the time, Sh1.3 billion had been set aside for these three offices, with Sh557.6 million earmarked for the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President and Sh696.6 million for the First Lady.
The budget cuts left several initiatives, including “faith diplomacy” and programmes aimed at empowering boys, without official government funding. Some officials have since requested that Parliament reinstate part of the funds to pay staff salaries in the First Lady’s office.
The CoB report also examined the performance of the Deputy President’s office, revealing mixed results.
While the coordination and supervision programme fully utilised its budget at a 100 per cent absorption rate and all domestic and foreign engagements for the Deputy President were completed as planned, consultative forums on coffee value chain interventions “were yet to record any output in the first six months of the 2025/26 fiscal period.”
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