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Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday rejected a request from Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s office yesterday made a spirited fight for reinstatement of Sh2.7 billion budget despite an announcement by President William Ruto it had been scrapped.

Following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill President Ruto announced that the offices of the First Lady Rachel Ruto’s office and that of Second Lady Dorcas Gachagua had been scrapped.

In the supplementary estimates, Treasury withdrew Sh557m which had been allocated to Dorcas’ office.

But yesterday, MPs rejected a request to return the budget.

Trouble started when Principal Administrative Secretary in the DP’s office Patrick Mwangi who had appeared before the MPs to defend the office’s budget which has been slashed from Sh4.8billion to Sh2.7billion, lobbied for the budget’s reinstatement on grounds that some of the operations they had kick-started would be grounded.

Alcoholism fight

Mwangi argued that the most affected would be the fight against alcoholism as most of those who had been rehabilitated were being followed up.

He said: “The office came in to provide the missing gap that the people being rehabilitated were being followed up with programs and placed on job opportunities. We get concerned as public officers on how we are going to close that gap.”

The MPs also rejected attempts to have some key votes in the DP’s office that had suffered budget cuts funded.

 MPs who sit in the departmental committee on Administration and Internal Security refused to entertain any debate on the Second Lady’s office citing President William Ruto’s decree scraping the offices of the First and Second Ladies.

But immediately he finished, Laikipia West MP Sarah Korere demanded that debate on the vote of the Second Lady’s office be stopped as the office no longer existed.

She said: “I want to beg that the officer can’t talk about the office of the spouse of the deputy president forever because that office has been abolished. It is of no use to anyone here. He should restrict himself to offices that are relevant. The office of the spouse of DP is no!”

Questioned funding

Lari MP Mburu Kahangara questioned why the Office was receiving funds from the exchequer yet it was not even constitutional.

He said: “The Office of the Spouse, was it even constitutional because why were we allocating money if in the first place it was not constitutional.”

The MPs also rejected attempts by Mwangi to have budgets for sector reforms that include coffee, tea, dairy, avocado, potatoes, fights against substance abuse menace such as alcohol and drugs reinstated. Mwangi explained to the MPs that the programmes would be affected should funds not be availed.

He said:  “We are going to affect the operations of the programs that had picked really well in the coffee, tea, dairy, and avocado among other crops that we had started addressing. We are also going to face the heat on curbing social vices like alcohol that had taken steam.”

But Korere insisted that Rigathi should leave the fight against drug and substance abuse to relevant agencies like NACADA which have the constitutional mandate.

She said: “The Deputy President has no business handling issues of agriculture and NACADA. Its either we scrap NACADA and create an office to deal with drugs that will be domiciled at the DP’s office. Or we strengthen NACADA to do what it should do.” The Committee vice chairperson Dido Rasso told the officers present that the DP’s office risks impeding the progress made in the agricultural reform sector as well as the fight against drug and substance abuse if he fails to coordinate with other constitutional agencies.