President William Ruto on Friday, June 7 announced new measures to tame government expenditure and address concerns raised by the government over opulence among state officers.

As part of the austerity measures, Ruto announced the state officers would be barred from participating in Harambees.

The Attorney General was directed to develop a policy guideline on the same.

“No state officer or public servant shall participate in public contributions going forward.

“The Attorney General is hereby directed to prepare and submit legislation to this effect and develop a mechanism for structured and transparent contribution to public and charitable philanthropic purposes,” he announced.

Ruto made the declaration after Kenyans raised concerns over the conduct of some government officials at Harambees.

On the other hand, Ruto added that more interventions would be undertaken if need be. He explained that the new measures were aimed at serving Kenyans better and building public trust.

“We are determined to carry out these and other changes to improve the quality, efficiency, and transparency in serving the people of Kenya and ensure that citizens receive maximum value for their resources from a public sector that prioritizes their welfare.

“I believe these changes will set our country on a trajectory towards economic take-off, enabling us to achieve the strategic objectives of the bottom-up economic transformation agenda and deliver our commitments to radically enhance opportunities for Kenyans and transform our country,” Ruto announced.

In recent weeks, Kenyans have also raised concerns over the source of wealth for some officers who donate more than their annual salaries as a single fundraising event.

Most of the concerns have been raised over money that is donated to churches and other religious organisations.

According to a section of Kenyans, the donations have silenced the religious institutions against speaking on the performance of the government.