Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has accused President William Ruto of running a “looting spree” through the newly tabled supplementary budget for 2025/26, claiming the government plans to siphon off Ksh 6.2 billion through several state institutions.
According to Gachagua, the money is being channelled through State House, the Office of the Deputy President, the State Department of Internal Security, and the National Intelligence Service.
He alleged that the funds are hidden under budget lines such as maintenance, operations, and security expenses, but are actually meant for something else entirely.
“The money to be drawn in cash through votes disguised as maintenance and operations, other operating expenses and security operations,” he wrote online.
“This is money for bribing voters, paying goons, buying MPs and Senators, counter-productive empowerment programs and the Ol Kalou by-election.”
The Democracy for the Citizens Party Leader also criticised the government for planning to spend heavily at a time when basic services in critical sectors remain badly underfunded.
“This is happening when hospitals have no drugs, cancer patients are deep in pain, our students have no capitation, university and college students have no funding, name it!” he said.
Under Supplementary Budget II, total government spending is set to rise by Ksh 17.29 billion, pushing the overall budget for the 2025/26 financial year to Ksh.4.6 trillion.
The National Treasury has proposed an Ksh 8.1 billion increase in recurrent expenditure, with the Sports Department receiving the largest share, an additional Ksh 4.1 billion, bringing its total allocation to Ksh 29.26 billion.
Other notable increases include an extra Ksh 3.8 billion for MSMEs, raising their budget to Ksh 12 billion, and Ksh 3.5 billion more for the NIS, bringing its allocation to Ksh 64.9 billion.
State House will receive an additional Ksh 1 billion, pushing its budget to Ksh 18.54 billion, while the Office of the Deputy President gets a smaller top-up of Ksh 200 million, raising its total to Ksh 5.3 billion.
The Education sector will also see its budget rise to Ksh 132.6 billion after receiving an extra Ksh 1.5 billion.
The development comes at a time when there is growing public pressure on the government to cut spending, as Kenyans continue to struggle with the high cost of living and brace for possible new taxes to help fund the 2026/27 financial year.
