TUKO.co.ke journalist Japhet Ruto has over eight years of experience in financial, business, and technology reporting and offers deep insights into Kenyan and global economic trends.

Despite President William Ruto's austerity measures pledge last year, Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi has revealed that waste of public resources is still widespread in the broad-based government.

Mbadi identified procurement procedures as one of the main areas where the government is losing money in an interview with Spice FM on Thursday, February 27.

The CS also identified budgeted corruption as another avenue for looting public funds.

"There is still waste in the government, and having a procurement management system is one of the most important things we can do right now. Along with budgeting, that is where we lose a lot of resources," Mbadi disclosed.

Mbadi said every funding request must be explained, shifting away from incremental increases from previous allocations.

"This year, we have come up with a zero-based budget; you have to justify every shilling you ask from the government, as opposed to incremental budgeting," he stated.

To stop the waste, he said he government would launch an online platform for procurement, which should be completely functional by the beginning of the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

"By the end of this quarter, we should have e-procurement up and running, and by July 1st, it should be operational across all government departments.

To capture all government commitments and revenue, we have also switched from cash basis accounting to the technical accrual basis. Additionally, we are implementing Treasury Single Accounts to eliminate the need for several accounts," Mbadi expounded.

However, the CS defended the recent State House renovations, which were the second major project in just over two years and cost millions of shillings, much to the dismay of Kenyans.

Mbadi insisted that a facelift was long overdue, even if the government is still trying to reduce costs.

"State House was leaking. The scale of the renovations may be questioned, but it is impossible to deny the necessity of a facility makeover. All international delegations are hosted there," he said.

In other news, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu outlined the national government's ministries, departments, and agencies' spending for the fiscal year that concluded in June 2024.

She voiced concerns about inaccurate revenue statements for the Ministry of Lands, the Kenya Revenue Authority, and other state agencies.

The Ministry of Lands did not explain a variance of KSh 139.3 million, while KRA did not account for KSh 128.8 million.

Gathungu noted that one of the eCitizen platform's problems was revenue leaks.

Source: TUKO.co.ke