Kenyan MPs Used 508 Million Shillings On Foreign Trips in 3 Months

Kenyan Members of Parliament and top employees at Parliament used a total of 508.6 million shillings on foreign travel in a period of three months between June and September.

According to a report by the Controller of Budget, the amount spent by lawmakers in three months was five times more than what was used at the same time in 2017.

In 2017, between June and September, MPs and staff used just 102.9 million shillings on foreign travel, meaning the new spending is an increase of 398 percent.

The National Assembly’s foreign travel increased to 324 million shillings with the Public Service Commission members using a total of 184 million shillings on traveling abroad.

During the same period, Kenyan Members of Parliament used 669.9 million shillings on local travel further showing how just the taxpayer has been coughing to ensure that their representative is either flying or being driven around.

Parliament’s spending on foreign trips were above what was spend by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which has most of its activities outside the country. The ministry used 409.3 million shillings for foreign travel and 70 million shillings for local travel.

The increase in foreign travel by more than 300 percent is a mockery to the President’s directive on government officials to cut spending on unnecessary foreign trips.

In a country riddled with corruption, chances are that most of the government officials who travel abroad using the taxpayers’ money don’t go there for official duties but for their own personal endeavors.

The spending comes at a time the country is wallowing in massive corruption in almost every sector with Statehouse itself being unable to account for 2.7 billion shillings spent in three years.

Several government officials have been arrested and arraigned in court over corruption charges that might have led into the loss of billions of shillings. Stats show that at least 2.2 trillion shillings might have been lost through corruption in Kenya in two years.