Foreign Affairs blew Sh1.12bn in six-month travels ? report

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs blew Sh1.12 billion on foreign travels alone in six months, a new report indicates.

The report by Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo also shows President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto separately spent Sh130 million on trips abroad over the same period.

The half-year report covers the period between July and December last year, a time when Jubilee launched a diplomatic offensive to have Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed elected as African Union Commission chairperson.

The state chartered a private plane for Ruto’s pan-African campaign but the CS in January lost to Chad’s Moussa Mahamat. The report further indicates the presidency spent Sh360 million on hospitality and Sh105 million on motor vehicle maintenance over the six-month period.

The report states the National Assembly spent Sh863 million on foreign travels, while the Parliamentary Service Commission spent Sh863 million. However, the MPs separately pocketed Sh1.5 billion for local travels in the same period.

Third highest expenditure

“The domestic and foreign travels category recorded the third highest expenditure in this economic item, with domestic and foreign travel registering Sh3.8 billion and Sh3.4 billion respectively,” Odhiambo said.

Much of the Sh1.5 billion local travel budget is made up of MPs’ mileage claims for trips made to their constituencies – an allowance that has often featured fictitious mileage claims over the decades.

The Parliamentary Service Commission does not make public the details of lawmakers’ mileage claims, including how much each MP was paid during a specified reporting period.

There have been claims that some MPs claim up to Sh1.5 million monthly, without any proof to show that they indeed travelled to their constituencies.

According to the report, the highest expenditure on personnel emoluments was incurred by the Teachers’ Service Commission at Sh92.6 billion.

Other notable expenditure included Sh404.6 million on training by the State Department of Interior and Sh170.8 million on printing and advertising by the State Department of Broadcasting & Telecommunications.

In 2016-17, Sh466.5 billion was allocated towards the settlement of the public debt. Kenya’s public debt crossed the Sh4 trillion mark at the end of March this year, reflecting the Jubilee government’s sharp appetite for loans.

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