The budget for foreign travel in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be reviewed and massively reduced in order to save taxpayers from unnecessary expenditure, a Principal nominee has told lawmakers.
Dr Korir Sing’oei, PS nominee for Foreign Affairs Tuesday told MPs that if approved, he will re-look at the foreign affairs travel budget which he termed as a concern with a view of reducing it.
“This is a matter that we will definitely review. We will examine the budget on foreign travel in totality. Allow me once in office to get the specifics before we take any action,” Dr Sing’oei told the Defence, intelligence and foreign relation committee.
Dr Sing’oei was responding to questions from lawmakers who raised concern that the budget on foreign travel from the ministry has always been very high yet there is little to show for the many trips made abroad.
“When you look at the budget of this ministry, a lot of it is on foreign travel, can we have our foreign missions to represent our country in some of these functions? Asked Mandera North MP Bashir Abdullah.
The nominee admitted that despite the government spending millions of shillings for maintenance of foreign missions, he said Kenyans are not getting are not getting value for money from them in terms of service delivery.
A report by the Controller of Budget (COB) in the year ended June 2022, that a total of Sh14.1 billion was spent on domestic travel by all government agencies.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' spending of Sh2.2 billion on foreign travel saw it rank as the single largest spender ministry/state department on foreign travel, followed by the National Assembly which spent Sh1.46 billion, and the Parliamentary Service Commission which spent Sh1.02 billion.
“In financial year 2021/22, travelling expenditure was Sh20.17 billion, an increase from the Sh14.23 billion recorded in FY 2020/21. This growth is attributable to the government’s lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions,” reads the COB report.
If approved by Parliament, Dr Sing’oei said his first task will be to advise the President William Ruto and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua on the appointment of ambassadors saying some work can be done by Kenyans in diaspora.
“Instead of taking someone from Nairobi together with the family which is expensive to serve as ambassador, we can incorporate members of our diaspora to power on our economic development,” Dr Sing’oei said.
He also waded into the plight of Kenyan migrant workers suffering in the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia saying they will develop a joint monitoring tool to check on the progress of workers.
“The problem of our workers starts here in the country, how they are recruited, sourced and their travel processed,” Dr Sing’oei said.
“We will develop a joint monitoring mechanism that will include the nature of the contract of our workers, nature of contract and the treatment of our workers. All these information will be in our digital platforms for easy monitoring,” Dr Sing’oei said.
This comes as PS nominee for Defence Patrick Mariro supported the government’s decision to deploy KDF troops to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) saying stability in the country is important to Kenya as well.
“DRC is a member state of the East African Community and there is a big market there for Kenya and other member states, the country is part and parcel of us,” Mr Mariro said.
State Department of Defence Principal Secretary nominee Patrick Mariro during his vetting at Parliament Buildings Nairobi on November 15, 2022.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo I Nation Media Group
“If DRC is ailing then Kenya and the EAC region is also ailing. The country is now part and parcel of our family and that is why we sent our troops there,” he added.
He described the sending of troops to DRC as a worthy investment that will help expand the market not only for Kenya but also other EAC member states.
He further pointed out that it is not only Kenya that has sent its troops to DRC but also other countries have done the same according to agreements made by member states.
The Kenyan troops will be part of the regional force deployed by the EAC to target rebel groups who refuse to disarm.
The troops will join their counterparts from Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania which have deployed various battalions to provide combat support to the mission.
