The Kenya Kwanza Gov’t economist David Ndii has hit out at Kenya Kwanza Gov’t over expenditure.
Edwin Mikel, an advocate of the high court had sought an explanation from David Ndii on why why president Ruto has traveled out of the country whereby the cost is of five year spent in 9 months.
Edwin tagged a local publication screenshot with a caption questioning if the travels are in the best interest of Mama Mboga.
“@DavidNdii we want to believe the travels are in the best interest of mama mboga even if it’s traveling for a meeting that would be held via zoom.” Said Edwin Mikel.
In his reply, David Ndii decided to pierce the Kenya Kwanza regime saying it has an “itchy problem.” And that Gov’t are wasteful.
“Government is wasteful. And this administration has an itchy feet problem.”
According to Nation publication, Government officials gobbled Sh 14 billion on travel in the nine months ended March-the highest in a similar period in at least five years.
The latest Controller of Budget (CoB) data show travel perks for foreign and local trips jumped by Sht.62 billion from Sh12.4 billion splashed in a similar period a year ago.
The rise comes on the back of a globe-trotting spree by top public officials, notably Cabinet secretaries, with the government saying the trips are of strategic value to Kenya.
This, Nation reports, is the highest amount that top government officials have splashed in the first nine months of a financial year in at least five years, revealing the appetite for trips, especially foreign ones that attract lucrative per diems
“The National Assembly recorded the highest domestic travel at Sh2.8 billion while Foreign Affairs recorded the most increased foreign travel at Sh1.43 billion,” said CoB Margaret Nyakang’o in the report.
Other agencies that posted significant growth on their travel bill include the Presidency with a 113 percent jump to Sh681 million.
The Parliamentary Service Com mission recorded a rise of 18.5 percent to Sh1.86 billion while the bill for MPs grew four percent to Sh4 billion.
The data shows that spending on foreign trips grew by Sh720 million in the nine months to Sh4.67 billion while the domestic travel bill increased higher at Sh900 million to Sh9.39 billion.
The National Treasury has over the years struggled to rein in trips abroad and cut wastage through bench-marking trips and oversized delegations.
Tickets, allowances and accommodation costs vary depending on the airlines and the destination. Some of the cities where government officials rake in high allowances include Geneva, Dubai and Washington DC.
Foreign trips have come at the expense of squeezing funds for delivery of basic services like health and roads pushing the government to rely on loans to fund the projects.
MPs and officials at ministries, parastatals and State departments have in the past been linked to a spike in travel abroad in the second half of the financial year in a rush to exhaust the budgetary allocations on foreign trips.
