State in debt after introduction of austerity measures

The government owes hotels around Nairobi more than Sh100 million in bills for hosting diplomats following austerity measures announced last year cutting spending on hospitality.

The Treasury has also not allocated Sh679 million for subscription to international bodies, says Foreign Affairs principal secretary Karanja Kibicho.

“Foreign service demands that we keep returning diplomats in hotels for a while. Hotels are likely to stop hosting our diplomats owing to the pending bills,” Dr Kibicho told the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, which is scrutinising the ministry’s proposals in the supplementary budget.

He said the ministry also had Sh177 million owed to other suppliers.

“The ministry has cumulatively lost Sh900 million through the austerity measures on the operations and maintenance items, negatively impacting on the operations of our missions abroad,” Dr Kibicho said.

He added that Kenya’s image would suffer irreparably if the membership to international bodies is not renewed, including delegates being refused to address meetings.

“If this money is not paid, our country’s image is likely to be in tatters. We are unable to address international forums simply because we have not paid annual fees,” Dr Kibicho said.

He said the Treasury allocated the ministry Sh450 million for subscription fees which was spent on AU and IGAD.

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka said Kenya was once denied a chance to address the Great Lakes Region forum on security in Congo because of non-payment of subscription fees.

Dr Kibicho asked for Sh270 million to buy motor vehicles, saying some missions have old and unserviceable vehicles. “It is very embarrassing for a vehicle carrying Kenyan flag to stall midway. It is not good for our image,” he said.

Dr Kibicho told the committee that the ministry is seeking approval to hire local staff abroad to cut costs of sustaining non-essential Kenyan staff working in foreign missions.

“It costs $10,000 to sustain a non-essential staffer at our foreign mission. We have to educate their children, pay them allowances among other costs. If we employ domestic staff for our diplomats from local residents it will cost us $3,000,” he said.

Dr Kibicho said the ministry required Sh1 billion to cater for President Kenyatta’a State visits but had only been allocated Sh228 million.

The ministry also needs Sh270 million for foreign travel and Sh300 million for routine maintenance of missions.