Ruto’s administration gobbles KSh14 billion on travel in the nine months
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Ruto's administration gobbles KSh14 billion on travel in nine months highlighting a spending spree by top public officials
Ruto’s administration gobbles KSh14 billion on travel in nine months highlighting a spending spree by top public officials.
The nine months ending in March saw officials spend Sh14 billion on travel, the most for a comparable time period in at least five years.
According to the most recent Controller of Budget (CoB) report, travel benefits for domestic and international travels increased by Sh1.62 billion from the Sh12.4 billion spent during the same period a year before.
The increase is the result of top government officials, particularly Cabinet secretaries, going on a travel binge, which the government claims is strategic for Kenya.
This shows the thirst for travel, especially international ones that attract hefty per diems, and is the most money that top government officials have spent in the first nine months of a fiscal year in at least five years.
“The National Assembly recorded the highest domestic travel at Sh2.85 billion while Foreign Affairs recorded the most increased foreign travel at Sh1.43 billion,” said CoB Margaret Nyakang’o in the report.
Other agencies that posted significant growth on their travel bill include the Presidency with a 113 percent jump to Sh681 million.
The Parliamentary Service Commission recorded a rise of 18.5 percent to Sh1.86 billion while the bill for MPs grew four percent to Sh4 billion.
The data shows that spending on foreign trips grew by Sh720 million in the nine months to Sh4.67 billion while the domestic travel bill increased higher at Sh900 million to Sh9.39 billion.
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The National Treasury has over the years struggled to rein in trips abroad and cut wastage through bench-marking trips and oversized delegations.
Tickets, allowances, and accommodation costs vary depending on the airline and the destination. Some of the cities where government officials rake in high allowances include Geneva, Dubai, and Washington DC.
Foreign trips have come at the expense of squeezing funds for delivery of basic services like health and roads pushing the government to rely on loans to fund the projects.
MPs and officials at ministries, parastatals, and State departments have in the past been linked to a spike in travel abroad in the second half of the financial year in a rush to exhaust the budgetary allocations on foreign trips.
While the Ministry of foreign affairs has traditionally been a big spender on foreign travel because it spearheads Kenya’s diplomatic strategy, the trade ministry emerged as a major driver of the increased travel bill.
This year, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has traveled out of the country more times than his Foreign Affairs counterpart Alfred Mutua.
Mr. Kuria had defended the frequent trips citing the critical role of his ministry in opening more trade opportunities for Kenyans abroad.
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