KENYA: Ministers, MPs defy President Uhuru Kenyatta’s order on luxury spending

The vehicles that ministers and top government officials were to surrender with the new government policy within the budget. Photo/FILE. Source@DailyNation.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s order requiring senior officials to cut public spending and save money his government needs to pursue its development agenda fell on deaf ears as billions of shillings were splashed on travel, entertainment and new vehicles in the first nine months of the current financial year.

The Controller of Budget’s latest report shows that top public officials defied the strict spending guidelines to splash Sh7.4 billion on the three items that topped the austerity list.

Agnes Odhiambo, the Controller of Budget, says in the third quarter report that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) spent Sh1.58 billion on foreign travels and Sh3.59 billion on domestic travels in three months.

The report shows Sh1.32 billion was spent on hospitality, conferences and catering while Sh885.76 million went into buying new vehicles in the first nine months of the year ending June 30.

The Parliamentary Service Commission, the employer of MPs who have voted themselves generous travel allowances, accounted for Sh1.57 billion or nearly 50 per cent of total domestic travel expenditure by the 39 MDAs

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Written By GEORGE OMONDI

Source: DailyNation