Foreign Travel Costs For Kenyan MPs Rose By 177%

By Juma / Published December 29, 2021 | 1:40 pm

KEY POINTS

Government officials used 1.738 billion shillings to travel abroad, an increase of 1 billion shillings in a period of three months to September 2021.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Members of the National Assembly, Senators, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs topped the spending charts during the period.

Government officials used 1.738 billion shillings to travel abroad, an increase of 1 billion shillings in a period of three months to September 2021. This was a 177 percent increase from 628 million shillings recorded at the same time in 2020.

According to the report from the Controller of budgets, Members of the National Assembly, Senators, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs topped the spending charts during the period.

The increase in foreign travel costs comes on the back of airlines resuming international flights after months of disruptions when the nations shut their borders to tame the spread of the coronavirus. Looks like Kenyan MPs had missed blowing our taxes.

It has been established that some government officials are flying out of the country to attend virtual meets, and without any shame brag about it on their social media platforms. They fly first-class and stay in big hotels at the expense of the taxpayer.

“To manage the rising public debt, the Controller of Budget recommends that the government continue rationalizing expenditures on recurrent activities, especially foreign travel,” said the Controller of Budgets. Spending by lawmakers rose 2,983.5 percent to Sh520.5 million in the review period.

MPs and Senators are some of the biggest earners on allowances for foreign trips with their per diems as high as 143,000 shillings per night. Therefore, the more meetings they have outside the country, the more they receive in terms of allowances.

Officials from the PSC—reported a 765.4 percent spending rise to 247.94 million shillings while the Ministry of Foreign— which spearheads Kenya’s diplomatic ties marked a 55.8 percent jump to 813.37 million shillings.

About Juma

Juma is an enthusiastic journalist who believes that journalism has power to change the world either negatively or positively depending on how one uses it.(020) 528 0222 or Email: info@sokodirectory.com

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