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Concern after State puts up tender to hire helicopters

Concern after State puts up tender to hire helicopters
PolUm. Ucio itaverenius iaetere, oc, teripsendam nit re, nos essum clus ipterfere a rei ponfit convere quitandum morarius cludesstina rib. PHOTO/Ndegwa Gathungu

In a clear case of one preaching water and drinking wine, Kenyans will have to dig deeper into their pockets in the coming months to cater for chartered helicopters for the President William Ruto administration.

In a move that amounts to a mockery of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -backed austerity measures, the Treasury has called for a multi-million tenders for the supply of high class choppers to be used by state officials to fly across the country.

This is despite the spending discipline pledge by President Ruto on July 5, 2024, and the current tough economic times that forces a significant number of Kenyans to rely on credit for survival as indicated by a report by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

While announcing that his administration will spend taxpayers money wisely, the President said the move was aimed at reducing expenditure by government ministries and agencies in a bid to raise more funds to supplement the 2023 budget following the scrapping of the Finance Bill 2024/25. 

Austerity measures

“Accordingly, in keeping with the enhanced austerity measures. We have committed to implement, and align government Expenditures with the budgetary implications of the withdrawal Of the Finance Bill, 2024,” Ruto said when he kicked out the Bill after Gen-Z led revolts that saw dozens killed and others maimed.

“The purchase of new motor vehicles by the government is suspended for 12 months, except for security agencies. A new policy on transport for public officers will be developed within this period. All non-essential travel by state and public officers is hereby suspended.”

But through a public tender notice by the National Treasury, the government invited bids for the provision of the helicopters with the period for the tender submission slated for February 14.

“The National Treasury invites sealed tenders for the provision of services, i.e. provision of chartered helicopter services. Tendering will be conducted under open tendering procurement method using a standardized tender document. Tendering is open to selected, qualified and interested tenderers,” the notice reads in part. 

IMF recommendations

This new contradictory move which is against IMF’s recommendations for fiscal discipline comes at such a time when the country is grappling with high public debt that recently hit the Sh10 trillion mark, and Kenyans generally struggling with the high cost of standards fronted by the current high tax regime.

“The Controller of Budget identified a huge stock of public debt that exceeded the statutory limit,” the office of the Controller of Budget said in a report that covered the first half of the current financial year. 

The cost of hiring a chopper in Kenya, currently ranges between Sh120,000 and Sh370,000 per hour for passengers less than five, judging from the tendency of the government to travel all staff members to different events clearly shows that more of public funds will be splurged during this process amid high pending bills. The cost of hiring a private helicopter also varies depending on the distance of the destination that one plans to travel. Owing to the extensive government initiatives at different parts of the country the government could be parting with huge sums of money that can instead be channeled to other critical needs. 

For instance, about 5 passengers travelling to Mombasa travelling to Mombasa via a private helicopter would need to dish out approximately Sh350,000. Compared to commercial flights that would cost roughly Sh45,000. 

Economy category

Far cheaper, transport through the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) would cost about Sh4,500 per person in the first-class category. For the economy category, a passenger will have to pay Sh1,500 to Mombasa, according to available rates by the Madaraka Express passenger service. Amid this increasing appetite for the luxury of chartered choppers is a government that has not been able to pay the private sector billions of shillings in pending bills.

Pending bills, according to the Controller of the Budget report as of September 30 last year stood at Sh528.36 billion indicating an amount that the government can use to pay private sector players and spur the economy, instead of hiring the helicopters which will add the burden to taxpayers.

Commenting on the issue of pending bills, IMF in a statement last year said: “Persistent difficulties in mobilizing revenue coupled with spending rigidities have led to a further accumulation of pending bills, and necessitated deep cuts in development spending, with potential for knock-on effects on growth and debt sustainability.” 

Kenyans during the first half of 2024 expressed their displeasure on the government’s tendency of aggressively raising taxes in the name of wanting to fund development projects and grow the economy yet a significant amount of the raised revenue is usually wasted in such activities.

The contentious Finance Bill 2024/25 targeted to raise about Sh370 billion an amount almost half of Sh608 billion that the country loses annually to corruption according to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).  Government critics of this move argue that this move undermines the public’s trust on the state to align its activities with fiscal reforms. 

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