The Office of the Controller of Budget (CoB) has highlighted a significant rise in travel expenses by the national government during the 2023/24 financial year, despite ongoing calls from President William Ruto’s administration for austerity measures.
According to the annual Budget Implementation Report, CoB Margaret Nyakang’o’s office pointed out that the Deputy President’s office was the largest spender, with expenses rising from Ksh.103.4 million in June 2023 to Ksh.556.7 million by June 2024. This marks a 438 per cent increase, starkly contrasting the Kenya Kwanza government’s commitment to cost-cutting, especially as many Kenyans grapple with the high cost of living.
The increased spending extends across various government offices, with the Office of the President and State House increasing foreign travel by 28 per cent, and the Prime Cabinet Secretary’s office seeing a 64 per cent rise. In total, travel expenses for these top three offices amounted to Ksh.2.45 billion, representing a 57 per cent increase from the Ksh.1.56 billion spent in the 2022/23 financial year.
These figures have raised concerns about the government’s adherence to its own austerity measures. In 2023, the National Treasury issued a directive to halve allowances for official travel and restrict the use of planes on domestic routes to a limited category of officers. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua reinforced this in August 2023, reprimanding the Cabinet for excessive travel, which had made it challenging for the President to hold meetings.
“Why do you have to honour every invitation that you have been given to every country? Your Excellency, at times we have tried to hold Cabinet meetings but we can’t because five or six CSs are out of the country. Some change clothes at the airport from one country to another, that is the truth. Why can’t you regulate yourself?” Gachagua posed to the ministers then.
“If the President was to travel and honour every invite, he would be out of this country the whole year. You just have to decide what is useful and other things we leave to the ambassadors.”
