Thursday, February 23, 2023 – Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u has revealed that President William Ruto spent Sh60.12 billion in subsidies on fuel, electricity, fertilizer, food, and other commodities in six months to cushion consumers from a high cost of living.
This comes even as the cost of living, electricity, and food among other commodities have remained high despite the alleged subsidies.
According to the Data from the Treasury, former President Uhuru Kenyatta had spent Sh43.91 billion between July and September before the expenditure rose by a whopping Sh16.21 billion between October and December to Sh60.12 billion when Ruto took charge.
Part of this spending includes Sh4 billion that was paid to maize millers by Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration for a short-term maize flour subsidy programme that ran between July and August to lower prices.
The outlay also includes billions of shillings paid to oil marketing firms in subsidy to keep fuel prices stable even as the State seeks to withdraw the subsidy to keep spending in check.
The data is not clear on what exactly Ruto did with the additional billions even as he insists it was used to subsidize food, electricity, fertilizer, and other commodities.
The subsidies have been pivotal by keeping the cost of fuel stable thus helping to prevent a sharper increase in the cost of transport, agriculture, electricity, and manufacturing.
For instance, when the government last September withdrew a nine-month-long subsidy on electricity, prices rose sharply with the fuel cost charge (FCC), which is the second most expensive component of electricity, rising by 46.6 percent.
The Kenyan DAILY POST.