President William Ruto has moved to curb the spiralling cost of foreign travel by top officials, including ministers, by issuing tough new rules, including a requirement that all trips by senior State officials be approved by the Head of State himself.
Similarly, a trip led by a Cabinet secretary, being the top most official, will only have a maximum of four people in it, including the minister.
“Travel requests for all Cabinet secretaries, Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS), Principal Secretaries (PS), chairpersons and chief executive officers of State corporations shall be sanctioned directly by the President himself,” the circular dated yesterday and circulated to all top officials.
Personal assistants and security personnel will no longer be allowed to travel with top officials, except for the aides of persons living with a disability.
In the tough new rules, top officials will only be limited to 45 days of foreign travel per year.
This includes a rule that each trip can only last seven working days, excluding dates of travel, and that top officials can only take a maximum of 15 days of foreign travel per quarter.
“Delegations should include the most relevant technical persons to assist the principal in the meetings, deliberations, or presentations related to travel. Personal assistants and security personnel will not be approved for travel, save for assistants to persons living with disability,” said the circular.
Battling an economy battered by a crushing public debt that demands at least Sh1.2 trillion per year to service, the President’s embargo sought to limit travel expenses by globetrotters in government.
Communicated through the Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, the President said the circular channelled through the office of the Attorney General Justin Muturi must be adhered to in totality.
“The President is only being keen on cutting down expenditure, especially by the executive,” said State House press secretary Emmanuel Talam of the memo.
To ensure total compliance, Dr Ruto said all foreign travel must bring together his office, the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, ministerial heads of finance, PSs and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission in processing clearances.
The President directed that no non-essential foreign travels will be allowed and those to be approved must be vetted to ascertain value-addition to the bottom-up economic agenda.
The inclusion of the CAS position hinted that the President has not dropped the idea of appointing its office bearers despite the High Court ruling that he contravened the Constitution in attempting to fill the slots.
Despite the court expressing no limitations for the legality of the position, it picked an issue with the President first briefing the Public Service Commission to create 23 positions but he appointed 51.
The extra ones led to the court ruling the whole list unconstitutional. The State appealed the ruling and asked the court guide on how to fill the positions.
And to neuter cases where some bosses pack clandestine lovers in lower cadre jobs for foreign travel, the circular demands that “Principal Secretaries are required to be seeking concurrence of the applying Cabinet secretary prior to granting travel approval for officers in job groups R and above”.
Foreign travel approval will not be granted for internationally hosted trainings, meetings, conferences, and events organised by local and regional public or private institutions.
“The same applies in cases of international meetings and trainings on governance and management matters. Where invitations for such are received by Foreign Affairs ministry, the same should be channelled to the office of the president to facilitate redirection to the government training institutions and customisation as appropriate,” said the President.
Dr Ruto ordered that benchmarking trips at all times should only be sought if they are associated with a gazetted reform initiative targeting a policy, legal and operational outcomes.
He pointed out that there are alternatives to physical attendance of international conferences and workshops, citing virtual shows.
The President said a department can place a travel request but upon evaluation of the value sought, reroute attendance to the more relevant department and persons.
“No one should leave the country without receiving approval from the submitted pitch for travel clearance…Once approved to leave, upon jetting back, all officers must within seven days file individual back-to-office reports on benefits accrued and a work plan containing the programmes or projects cum initiatives that will be implemented arising from the trip,” he said.
To give approval enough time for due diligence, all travel clearance requests must be sought by the relevant PSs seven working days before the intended date of departure.
“Applications received after 5pm on the deadline date and any incomplete submissions will not be processed unless exceeding circumstances are prosecuted by the Cabinet secretary in charge,” the travel guidelines read in part.
For the travels to be considered for clearance, the applicants must attach invitation letters addressed to each applicant by name, outlining the role to be played, brief on whether the invitation is sponsored at what percentage, programme of the proposed event and relevance of the dates prayed for to attend.
“We will require written confirmation from the head of the procurement unit of the requesting agency on the proposed air ticket cost for each member of the delegation and it is the most economical and at competent, market rates.
“The same will also require written confirmation from the head of the finance unit of the requesting agency certifying the total expenses of the delegation, the source, amount and availability of government funds to finance the trip where applicable,” added the President.
The SRC report on allowances applicable as per the destination will also be attached and copied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for certification.
