Nairobi — A Sh280 million request by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi to refurbish his office is encountering significant opposition in Parliament, as lawmakers question the timing and necessity of the expenditure amid broader calls for fiscal restraint.
The proposal was examined during a recent sitting of the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security, where officials from the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary (OPCS) defended the request under Supplementary Estimates I for the 2025/26 financial year. Joash Dache, Principal Administrative Secretary at the OPCS, told the committee the funding was necessary to address security vulnerabilities identified in a report by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
However, the request contradicts earlier advice from the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC), which had explicitly recommended against allocating additional funds for the OPCS office in the 2026 Budget Policy Statement (BPS). The Administration and Internal Security Committee not only rejected the refurbishment budget but also questioned the logic of investing heavily in a leased facility.
Dache argued the OPCS offices, located in a rented space at the Kenya Railways headquarters, are in a dilapidated state and require urgent upgrades to meet operational standards. “We inherited a condemned building. It is the responsibility of a landlord to ensure that premises are habitable,” he stated, adding that the funds would close security gaps flagged by the NIS. His position was challenged, however, by the absence of the intelligence report to substantiate the claims, leading MPs to accuse the office of misusing the supplementary budget process.
Saku MP Dido Rasso, the committee’s vice-chair, questioned the urgency of the request and its classification as an emergency. “How does this qualify as an emergency for the taxpayer?” he asked. Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma termed the request an abuse of the supplementary budgeting framework, warning that approval would increase the OPCS budget by over 70 percent and that such costs should have been planned in the main budget.
The dispute highlights ongoing scrutiny of public spending. Since Mudavadi—who also serves as Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs—assumed office in 2023, the OPCS has already spent a cumulative Sh363 million on renovations. In its report on the 2026 BPS, the BAC directed that no further public funds be used for structural modifications of the OPCS’s leased premises and recommended that the National Treasury cease financing such expenditures altogether.
Meanwhile, the Administration and Internal Security Committee noted that the proposed budget ceiling for the OPCS in 2026/27 appears aimed at restoring funding for core operational areas like rent and administration, which were previously underfunded. However, the committee cautioned that the substantial upward revision reflects weaknesses in executive budget formulation, raising concerns about planning accuracy and fiscal discipline.
The OPCS is separately proposed to receive Sh827 million for recurrent expenditure in the 2026/27 financial year, with no capital allocation included. The final decision on the Sh280 million supplementary request now rests with the wider National Assembly, as Parliament balances operational needs with demands for greater austerity in public finance management.
