Top government officials more than doubled their spending on foreign travel in the nine months to March, highlighting Treasury’s struggles to cut down on wasteful expenditure.
The latest data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) shows that the officials splashed Sh3.95 billion in the period under review, reflecting a 160 percent jump from Sh1.51 billion in a similar period last year.
MPs and Senators led the way with the highest jump of 775.1 percent to hit Sh1.05 billion followed by Treasury with a jump of 525.1 percent to Sh58.76 million.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs came third with an increase of 59.28 percent to splash Sh1.569 billion on foreign trips.
The spike in expenditure on foreign trips highlights the struggles that Treasury has faced in trying to reign in on trips abroad and cuts wastage through bench-marking trips and oversized delegations.
CoB Margaret Nyakango attributed the increase to the lifting of the Coronavirus restrictions prompting top government officials to resume foreign trips spree.
“This growth is attributable to the government’s lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions,” CoB Nyakango says in the report.
Tickets, allowances and accommodation costs vary depending on the airlines and the destination, with Singapore and the US attracting the highest payments.
A circular from the Parliamentary Service Commission shows that MPs and Senators earn Sh143,493 ($1,296) per diem a night in Singapore— making the Asian nation the most lucrative in allowances.
Lawmakers earn Sh132,421 ($1,196) in per diem on trips to the US, followed by London where they get Sh122,677 ($1,108) per night and Sh122,013 ($1,102) in Swiss cities that include Geneva.
Top government officials like MPs use foreign trips that involve lavish allowances to boost their monthly pay.
An increase in foreign trips has 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 from ministries, parastatals and State departments have in the past been accused of foreign trips craze in the second half of the financial year in a rush to exhaust the budgetary allocations on foreign trips.
Funds that are not spent by the end of the financial year are supposed to be returned to the Exchequer.
The historic-high spending on foreign trips comes despite Mr Yatani saying non-core travel for State officials remained suspended.
The Treasury has flagged foreign trips by top State officials as an example of wastage of public funds due to the huge delegations and high per diems.
It has struggled to cut non-core expenditure in the race to make savings and fund its programmes without relying too much on debt.
