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Members of the National Assembly were yesterday divided over the enhancement of the budget of State House and the Office of the Deputy President in the supplementary estimates.

While a section of the MPs from the Kenya Kwanza side allied to President William Ruto supported the increment, those in Azimio opposed the move saying the increase was insensitive especially now that Kenyans are facing harsh economic times.

According to the report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) estimates, the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s office was allocated an additional Sh759.5 million that saw its budget increasing to Sh4.2 billion up from Sh3.5 billion, while State House got an additional Sh2.6 billion from Sh6.4 billion to Sh9.9 billion.

Pavilion

MPs Irene Mayaka (Nominated) and Zamzam Mohammed (Mombasa Woman Rep) said the high cost of living should have been given priority.

“The one area I have concern is the increase in the amount allocated to State House. The reason given by the committee chair is that the President would like to have more meetings in State House including building a pavilion.

“But we are experiencing extraordinary times which means we need to make extraordinary decisions. If we must have meetings, then why don’t we have online meetings to save money? I think that the amount allocated is too much,” said Mayaka.

But the BAC chair Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu) defended the allocation.

“On the State House budget we are just reinstating what we slashed in the main budget because we had other pressing matters then that we needed to address.”