President William Ruto, First Lady Rachel Ruto are received by US First Lady Jill Biden at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Washington, D.C , in the United States of America. This is the second phase of the U.S. State Visit after Atlanta where the President pitched camp for two days marketing Kenya as a top investment destination in Africa.
In the 1,000 days since President William Ruto assumed office, 156 have been spent on foreign soil.
The 84 international trips he has made so far have raised concern, but he has consistently defended his travel as critical for securing foreign investment and strengthening diplomatic ties.
Between September 2022 and December 2024, the Executive Office of the President has spent Sh415.31 million on foreign travel alone.
That is approximately Sh450,000 per day or an average of Sh4.9 million per trip.
This figure is a small fraction of the Sh1.206 billion that his office has spent on foreign and domestic travel since September 2022.
A comparison of his trips with former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s in their first 1,000 days shows that Mr Kenyatta made 53 trips, compared to Dr Ruto’s 84.
Mr Kenyatta, however, spent Sh502.5 million, which is higher than the Sh415.31 million that President Ruto has spent in the same time period.
Overall, Mr Kenyatta made 158 trips and spent a total of Sh1.6 billion on foreign travel between July 2013 and June 2022, according to CoB reports.
The late President Mwai Kibaki made just 33 foreign trips during his ten-year tenure.
In his first financial year, President Ruto spent Sh1,000,530,000 on domestic travel and Sh361.77 million on foreign travel, bringing the total to Sh1.03 billion in that year alone.
In the 2023/2024 financial year, his office spent a total of Sh102.53 million, which included Sh36.65 million on foreign travel and Sh65.88 million on domestic travel.
In the current financial year, the Office of the President has spent Sh74.42 million between July and December 2024, which includes Sh16.89 million on foreign travel and Sh57.83 million on domestic travel.
It is important to note that when the President travels, he is accompanied by staff from other ministries on some trips, and their travel expenditure is accounted for in their respective ministries.
Overall travel expenditure by the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the current financial year is Sh9.57 billion, which comprises Sh3.1 billion in foreign travel and Sh6.4 billion in domestic travel.
President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto arrive at Icheon International Airport in Icheon, South Korea on June 3, 2024.
Last financial year, the cumulative figure was Sh27.34 billion — Sh9.19 billion in foreign travel and Sh18.15 billion in domestic travel.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, Sh6.32 billion was spent on foreign travel while Sh14.04 billion was spent on domestic travel, bringing the total to Sh20.7 billion.
Since President Ruto assumed office, MDAs have spent a total of Sh57.61 billion on domestic and foreign travel so far.
In the first year of his presidency, records from the Controller of Budget (CoB) show that in the 2022/2023 financial year, Sh361.77 million was spent on foreign travel by the Office of the President alone — the highest ever by any Kenyan president in a single year. He made a total of 26 trips in that period.
Domestic travel by the office was also the highest it has ever been at a staggering one billion shillings in the same financial year.
There was outrage and criticism, with many Kenyans struggling to see how the benefits of President Ruto’s globe-trotting justified the hefty price tag.
In 2022 alone, when he was President for just four months, he made nine trips.
These included twice to the United States — for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September and the US-Africa Summit in December.
He also visited the United Kingdom for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, Ethiopia for the launch of Safaricom, Uganda for its 60th anniversary celebrations, and made official visits to Eritrea, South Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania.
In 2023, he made the most trips he has done in one year — 35.
He went to Europe 10 times, was in African countries 19 times, visited Asian countries twice, returned to the United States for UNGA, and made three trips to the Middle East.
“As the chief agent and chief ambassador of our country, these foreign trips that people are making noise about are crucial because we can look for opportunities for Kenyans.
We are a great nation and going places. We shall do the right thing and Kenya shall prosper,” he said during a church service in October 2023, once again defending his frequent travel.
In the 2023/2024 financial year, the President’s office once again spent Sh36.65 million on foreign travel — a drastic drop from the Sh361.77 million the previous year.
This is despite him making 38 trips that financial year — the highest ever for any president in a single year.
However, the CoB report for the year revealed a discrepancy in the reported amount spent on foreign travel by economic line versus the detailed breakdown.
President Ruto’s office had indicated in the economic line that Sh36,647,786 had been spent on foreign travel, while a detailed breakdown revealed Sh57,534,259 had been spent — meaning Sh20,886,473 had not been included in the overall tally.
An attempt by the Presidency to address concerns on foreign travel in government came in the form of a circular issued by the Chief of Staff and Head of the Public Service, Felix Koskei, in October 2023.
The circular suspended several categories of travel such as benchmarking and study visits, training and related capacity-building initiatives, conferences and meetings of general participation, research, academic meetings and symposia.
Also put on hold were side events, showcase events and exhibitions, caucus and association meetings and events, as well as sponsored events requiring supplementation in per diem and ticket upgrades.
For delegations accompanying the President, the First Lady, the Deputy President, and the Prime Cabinet Secretary, the circular guided that the delegations shall be approved only for officials playing a direct role in the scheduled activities and programmes of the principals.
The circular, however, was not adhered to — if the numbers are anything to go by — because in the 2023/2024 financial year, when the circular was issued, foreign travel in the national government increased by almost Sh3 billion: from Sh6.3 billion in the 2022/2023 financial year to Sh9.1 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.
In 2023, President Ruto made 10 trips to Europe, which included visits to France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany for various summits and conferences.
He visited 19 African countries, travelled twice to Asia — for the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China and an official visit to India.
He went back to New York for UNGA in September and made three trips to the Middle East — including two stops in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi-Africa Summit and the Future Investment Initiative, and one to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Conference of the Parties (COP28).
Before the first major anti-Finance Bill protests on June 18, 2024, the President had made 20 trips to 17 countries, including three State Visits to Japan in February, Ghana in April, and the United States in May.
He also attended the Korea-Africa Summit, the Italy-Africa Summit, the World Governments Summit in the UAE, and the G7 Summit in Italy on June 14, 2024.
But he would end up slowing down on foreign travel after the anti-Finance Bill protests took over. He did not travel out in July and made a day trip to Rwanda in August for President Paul Kagame’s inauguration.
He resumed travel in September when he attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in China, followed by the Annual Citizens Festival in Berlin, Germany, in the same month.
In total, he made 29 trips in 2024 — with four of those being in Europe, 18 in Africa, three in Asia, two in the United States, one in Haiti, and one in the Middle East.
Between July and December 2024, the Office of the President has spent Sh16.89 million on foreign travel.
In 2025, the President has been on 11 foreign trips — to Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Ghana, twice to Tanzania, Angola, and on a State Visit to Egypt.
Outside Africa, he has made a State Visit to China in April and also travelled to the UAE and the Vatican for Pope Francis’ funeral.
