State House/FILE
State House travel and hospitality expenses under President
William Ruto have more than doubled since he took over from his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta.
This is despite Ruto giving separate allocations to the office of the deputy president and the Executive Office of the President.
Under Uhuru, the three offices were consolidated and given resources as a unit.
An analysis by the Star shows that expenses in some of the three budget lines — domestic and foreign travel and hospitality — have more than doubled.
From the 2022-23 financial year, when Ruto took over the reins of power, to the 2024-25 financial year, State House spent Sh7 billion on domestic travel.
State House has also spent Sh1 billion on foreign travel and another Sh6.22 billion on hospitality.
The Office of the Deputy President spent Sh904.76 million on domestic travel, with Sh568.80 million spent last year alone.
Over the four financial years, the DP’s office has spent Sh264.12 million on foreign travel and Sh2.12 billion on hospitality.
Interestingly, the DP’s office currently under Kithure Kindiki spent Sh909.75 million on hospitality in the last fiscal year alone.
In contrast, in the last four financial years of Uhuru’s tenure, the Executive Office of the President, or simply the Presidency that comprises State House, the Executive Office of the President, and the Office of the Deputy President, spent ShSh3.05 billion on domestic travel.
This expenditure is Sh3.95 billion less than the amount State House spent on domestic travel.
Under Uhuru, the Presidency spent Sh612.11 million on foreign travel, compared to Sh1 billion that State House alone spent in the last four fiscal years.
On hospitality, Uhuru’s presidency spent Sh6.31 billion, compared to State House’s Sh6.22 billion under Ruto.
However, when you add the Sh2.12 billion spent in the DP’s office during the Kenya Kwanza administration, the current regime has dwarfed Uhuru on this budget line as well.
The Star compared and analysed figures captured in the Controller of Budget’s findings on Budget Implementation Review Reports for the National Government between the 2018-19 and 2025-26 financial years.
In recent years, the focus has been on the ballooning State House budgets, with a huge chunk of the budget going towards travel, hospitality and renovations.
State House has often defended the sharp budget increase, citing the addition of more institutions under the Executive Office of the President.
For instance, Ruto moved the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) and the Government Press to the Executive Office of the President.
Opposition and government, however, link the ballooning State House budgets and high spending on hospitality and travel to the many delegations the president has been hosting and frequent trips he makes locally and abroad.
“The President has turned State House into a political field. He is hosting delegations every other day, giving them money and refreshments. That is where all this money is going,” Busia Senator Okiya Omtata said.
In recent days, Ruto has hosted thousands of Kenyans at State House in Nairobi in what the opposition has linked to his 2027 re-election campaign strategy.
“It is a poorly disguised campaign strategy that enables the President and his deputy to make inroads into the areas that they think are critical for their continued stay in power and for purposes of recapturing power in 2027,” human rights activist Suba Churchill said.
“You can clearly see the political angle to those visitations; most of them are from areas that used to be critical and opposed to the President,” he added.
The Head of State has hosted village elders, religious leaders, businesspeople, youth and women's groups, national government administration officers and private security guards, among others.
The expenditure analysis points to a trend where State House spending on some of the lines has been rising over the years.
State House spent Sh2.40 billion on domestic travel in the 2025-26 financial year, an increase compared to Sh2.26 billion spent in the previous year.
In 2023-24, State House splashed Sh1.34 billion on domestic travel and Sh1 billion the year before.
However, during Uhuru’s regime, the Presidency’s expenditure on this budget line fluctuated.
In 2021-22, the Presidency spent Sh873.90 million up from Sh610.83 million the year before. In 2029-2020, the Presidency spent Sh843 million up from Sh704.4 million in 2028-19.
On foreign travel, State House spent Sh158.18 million, Sh189.85 million, Sh298.16 million and Sh361.79 million in 2025-26, 2024-25, 2023-24 and 2022-23 respectively.
During Uhuru’s reign, the Presidency spent Sh83.54 million, Sh84.17 million, Sh247.8 million and Sh196.17 million in 2021-22, 2020-21, 2019-20 and 2018-19, respectively.
On hospitality, Ruto’s State House spent Sh1.66 billion, Sh1.15 billion, Sh1.67 billion and Sh2.33 billion in 2025-26, 2024-25, 2023-24 and 2022-23, respectively.
Uhuru’s presidency spent Sh1.41 billion, Sh1.16 billion, Sh1.67 billion and Sh2.05 billion in 2021-22, 2020-21, 2019-20 and 2018-19, respectively.
For the office of the deputy president, domestic travel gobbled up Sh568.80 million, Sh228.23 million, Sh44.73 million and Sh63 million in 2025-26, 2024-25, 2023-24 and 2022-23, respectively.
On foreign travel, the office spent Sh86.38 million, Sh22.22 million, Sh114.92 million and Sh40.76 million in 2025-26, 2024-25, 2023-24 and 2022-23 respectively.
Hospitality gobbled up Sh909.75 million, Sh379.78 million, Sh746.02 million and Sh84.56 million in 2025-26, 2024-25, 2023-24 and 2022-23 respectively.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The figures expose a sharp rise in spending on travel and hospitality under Ruto, particularly at State House and the Deputy President’s office. While the restructuring of executive offices complicates direct comparisons, the scale of expenditure raises questions about fiscal discipline and priorities. Opposition claims that State House gatherings serve political mobilisation ahead of 2027 deepen scrutiny, especially as Kenyans face economic pressures and demands for greater accountability.
