Travel Bill for President and His Deputy Rise After Re-Election

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy Dr. William Ruto’s foreign travel costs have increased five times since the election period in 2017.

According to the Controller of Budget (CoB), the Presidency spent 190 million shillings as compared to the 36.5 million shillings earlier the same year during the two presidential elections, since they were focused more on the presidential campaigns and their re-election.

However, soon after their re-election, the travel bill has risen according to data from the Controller of Budget.

Deputy President’s local trips are seen to have intensified since their re-election in October 2017 and more especially after the President’s handshake with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, something that some Jubilee politicians do not take kindly.

When President Uhuru came into power in 2013, he had advocated for a deficit-cutting policy and put emphasis on spending on non- essential items such as traveling.

However, while President Uhuru’s local trips have reduced since his re-election, he has been doing a number of trips to several foreign countries.

In the first three years of his 2013 election, President Uhuru had been on so many foreign trips that made the public so uncomfortable that State House had to come to his defense saying those trips were meant to improve Kenya’s economy through investments.

The overall cost of domestic travel dropped to 420 million shillings spent in the first nine months of 2018/2019 from the 432 million shillings that were spent in the previous year.

Following the increased number of foreign trips by members of parliament, the cost of foreign travel for all ministries, departments, and agencies has increased to 4.2 billion shillings in the first nine months of 2018/2019.