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MPs, senators plan to spend Sh6bn on trips

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National Assembly Speaker and PSC chairman Justin Muturi. file photo | nmg

Members of Parliament have set aside a whopping Sh5.9 billion for their foreign and domestic travel in the next financial year — nearly doubling the Sh3.2 billion reserved for the same purpose this year. 

The amount is contained in the estimates of recurrent and development expenditure of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) for the year to June 2019 that were tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

The 67 senators will spend Sh1.5 billion in foreign and domestic travel, up from Sh981.4 million in the current financial year, while the 349 members of the National Assembly are to consume Sh4.4 billion, up from Sh3.5 billion, on the same.

The amount is contained in the legislative services and committee services votes, which is primarily expenditure that is directly incurred by MPs while executing their mandate.

Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale submitted the budget to the House on behalf of the PSC.

READ: Uhuru, Ruto travel spending hits Sh193m in three months

It will cost Kenyan taxpayers a massive Sh42.55 billion to finance MPs and parliamentary staff operations in the financial year 2018/19, making the legislature the most expensive public institution in Kenya in terms of per capita spending.

The PSC wants the Treasury to allocate Sh39.34 billion for Parliament’s recurrent expenditure and an additional Sh3.2 billion for development in the year 2018/19.

The National Assembly will account for the lion’s share of the recurrent budget that will consume Sh23.4 billion while the PSC, which includes the remuneration budget for the Senate, will receive Sh15.9 billion.

“The gross total resource envelope (recurrent and development) for financial year 2018/19... is Sh42.55 billion,” Justin Muturi, the PSC chairman and Speaker of the National Assembly, said in a report forwarding the House budget.

The budget proposals indicate that the Sh3.2 billion development budget will cater for the provision of physical facilities and other infrastructure development within Parliament.