Gachagua Clarifies He Needs KSh 300m To Renovate Harambee Annex, Karen Residence: "Not KSh 1.2b"

• Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua clarified that his office will need KSh 400 million for its renovation and motor vehicle upgrade needs
• Members of Parliament had cast questions after a report suggested the ODP needed KSh 2.6 billion in the 2024/25 Budget
• According to Gachagua's office, KSh 300 million will be used to renovate the Harambee House Annex Office and the official residences in Karen and Mombasa

Kai Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Nairobi: The Office of the Deputy President (ODP) has renounced reports it seeks upwards of KSh 1.2 billion to renovate the Harambee Annex office and the deputy president's official residence in Karen.

According to the reports, the ODP had requested a cumulative KSh 2.6 billion to renovate the office and buy motor vehicles, among other expenditures.

How much does Gachagua's office need?

Of the KSh 2.6 billion, KSh 1.2 billion would be allocated to renovating the Karen residence (KSh 600 million), renovating the Harambee Annex office (KSh 460 million), and purchasing new motor vehicles (KSh 200 million).

However, in its clarifications, the ODP explained that it needed KSh 400 million cumulatively for car upgrades and office renovations.

In a communique, the ODP explained that vehicles it used for the past ten years were in deplorable condition and hampered service delivery, thus the need for new acquisition.

"For the last 10 years, the Office of The Deputy President has heavily relied on old, and refurbished vehicles which are costly to maintain, compromising service delivery," the ODP said.

It therefore presented a request for KSh 100 million for new reliable cars.

Further, the office explained the need for KSh 300 million.

The amount would be used to renovate the DP's official residences in Karen and Mombasa.

"The Harambee House Annex Office and Mombasa residence have been neglected over the last 15 years affecting critical areas of habitability, safety and security," Gachagua's office explained.

Why Ruto's gov't is on the spot

The proposals for the budget in top government offices -ahead of deliberations by parliament on the Finance Bill 2024- came in the wake of the scrapping of the school feeding programme from the 2024/25 budget.

Should the Finance Bill 2024 be adopted, the programme will cease to exist beginning July this year.

This would be against the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, which stipulated that the programme's budget would increase as time passed to accommodate more beneficiaries.

Concerned Kenyans queried the government's sense of priority.

The programme has benefitted millions of learners from 26 marginalised counties.

Proofreading by Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke