Controller of Budget says the national government spent Sh27.34bn in the 2023/24 financial year on local and foreign travel, compared to Sh20.37bn recorded in the 2022/23 financial year.
Barely 19 days after President William Ruto issued a strict directive banning non-essential travel and limiting delegations for unavoidable trips, his then-deputy Rigathi Gachagua set out for Belgium with a team of 32 individuals.
Mr Gachagua was sent to represent President Ruto at the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels. The 32-member team burned through Sh16.5 million over six days.
From Brussels, Mr Gachagua led 21 State officials to Munich, for a meeting with German government officials.
The two-day trip cost taxpayers Sh25.7 million. Mr Gachagua’s globetrotting, on behalf of the President, did not end there.
He led a team of 14 officials to Dubai, where they spent Sh10 million in two days.
In February, Mr Gachagua returned to Germany to follow up on memorandums signed on the initial trip. The team spent 11 days in Munich, spending Sh7.1 million.
As Mr Gachagua set off for Brussels, 12 officials from the Office of the President left for Dubai on a benchmarking trip, aimed at converting the Government Printer into a profitable institution.
When the 12 officers returned from the seven-day trip, they had burned through Sh6.9 million.
Right before the Dubai trip, the Office of the President sent another group of five officials to Malaysia for five days.
The five officials, members of the Presidential task force on the Government Press, used Sh2.95 million on their trip.
63 officials
And in December 2023 the Ministry of Trade and Investments sent 63 officials to Burundi for a trade fair.
The Kenyan taxpayer parted with Sh50.6 million to ensure that the 63 officials travelled, ate and slept comfortably while on the 10-day excursion in Bujumbura.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o in her latest implementation review report reveals how dozens of State institutions, including President Ruto’s office, defied the austerity directive before the ink had dried on Mr Koskei’s memo.
That defiance has cost taxpayers a total of Sh30 billion in the last 15 months alone.
Ms Nyakang’o says the national government spent Sh27.34 billion in the 2023/24 financial year on local and foreign travel, compared to Sh20.37 billion recorded in the 2022/23 financial year.
Sh3.58 billion
Further, State officials blew a total Sh3.58 billion on local and foreign travel in the first three months of the 2024/25 financial year.
The National Assembly topped the list of the highest spenders on travel in the three-month period, followed by the Senate.
During the period, the National Assembly spent Sh870.2 million on local travel, and another Sh173.96 on foreign travel.
The Senate used Sh345.7 million on local travel and Sh80.61 million on foreign travel in the three months.
On April 27, 2024, President Ruto while presiding over the opening of the 26-storey Bunge Tower, said the state-of-the-art offices will enable the August House to embark on cost-cutting measures including cessation of holding parliamentary meetings in hotels.
"Now that we have all the facilities here including meeting rooms and committee meeting rooms, I hope l will see a significant reduction in the parliament budget for local travel and expenditure. It must reflect somewhere," stated Dr Ruto.
However, in subsequent months, MPs and Senators blew millions holding meetings in Naivasha, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and other parts of the country.
Several officers were already on the gravy train before President Ruto’s October 2, 2023 directive.
In September 2023, an officer from the State Law Office attended a meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, to launch a report on “Being Intersex in Zambia,” a trip that cost taxpayers Sh630,660.
Shortly after, a Parliamentary Affairs officer travelled to Turkey on a 10-day mission to inspect an elevator, spending Sh1.4 million.
The report shows the State Department for Youth Affairs sent an official twice to attend the World Dwarf Games, each trip costing Sh735,102.
Meanwhile, the State Department for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development led a delegation of 63 officials to Burundi for the EAC MSME trade fair, racking up Sh50.6 million in expenses.
Some of the trips have made a mockery of President Ruto’s directive, which capped delegations for Cabinet Secretaries at three, Principal Secretaries at two, and heads of state corporations at one.
Despite additional guidance from the Treasury in December 2023, urging ministries and state agencies to ensure prudent use of resources, travel expenditures spiralled out of control.
The National Assembly emerged as the highest spender, with Sh7.83 billion dedicated to domestic and foreign travel over 15 months.
This includes Sh5.47 billion on local travel and Sh2.35 billion on foreign trips.
Others that have spent huge amounts of money on travel include; Foreign Affairs (Sh 4.09billion), Senate (Sh2.2 billion), State House (Sh1.69 billion), Judiciary (Sh1.67 billion), Auditor-General (Sh1.35 billion) and Internal Security (Sh964 million).
The National Police Service (Sh928million), Parliamentary Joint Service (Sh907 million) and Office of the Deputy President with Sh600.4 million) were also included in the list of top spenders.
Not even the June 2024 nationwide protests led by the Gen-Zs could stop State officials from wastage of resources on travel.
After the GenZ protests that disrupted economic activities in the country and led to the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024/2025, President Ruto pledged to have his administration cut unnecessary expenditure.
However, it remains just that –a pledge. A larger chunk of the Sh30 billion was spent on local travel.
The report raises questions about the high expenditure on non-critical travel, mainly for non-essential engagements such as training and benchmarking.
On December 13, 2023, the Treasury issued a circular directing all ministries, departments and agencies, including State corporations, to ensure prudent and responsible use of public resources.
The Controller of Budget (COB), however, reveals that despite the directives, public officials continued to misuse huge amounts of money on domestic and foreign travel.
“Much of the travel budget was spent on non-essential categories, such as training and benchmarking. This spending pattern suggests that the circular was not fully complied with,” COB Margaret Nyakang’o notes.
Unnecessary foreign trips
In the report on national government budget implementation, the COB exposes that during the fiscal year, government officials continued with unnecessary foreign trips, taking huge delegations and often several agencies colliding at the same event abroad.
“Multiple trips to the same destinations by different MDAs suggest a lack of coordination, leading to redundant travel. For example, numerous departments travelled to Italy and France for similar purposes, incurring avoidable costs,” she says.
Other high spenders in the first three months of the 2024/25 financial year were the Office of the Auditor General which used Sh204.1 million on domestic travel and 29.2million on foreign travel, the National Police Service, which used Sh111.72 million on domestic travel and the State Department of Internal Security and National Administration which used Sh104.27 million on domestic travel.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions used Sh14.86 million on domestic travel and Sh9.2 million on foreign travel.
Other high spenders on local travel were the Judiciary (Sh71.8 million), the State Law Office (Sh26.18million), Public Service Commission (Sh13.21 million), the Teachers Service Commission (Sh11.08million), Judicial Service Commission (Sh20.77million), National Land Commission(Sh8.65million), Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (Sh31.9 million), State Department for Lands and Physical Planning (Sh61.42 million), State Department for Livestock Development (Sh15.9 million), State Department for Foreign Affairs (Sh51.3 million) and State Department for Correctional Services (Sh58.1 million).
Both the Office of the President and the Deputy President spent a total of Sh54 million on local travel alone in the first three months of the financial year.
Between June and September 20, when pressure from the anti-government demonstrations was at its peak, the Offices of the President and Deputy President spent Sh3 million on foreign travel.
Dr Nyakang’o has recommended the implementation of a rigorous pre-approval process for both foreign and domestic trips and the creation of a single body to approve them.
“The government should establish a centralised unit to review and approve all foreign travel across MDAs, to prevent duplication and redundancies. This body would ensure that similar trips by different departments are consolidated or eliminated, reducing unnecessary expenditure," said Nyakang'o.
