Taita Taveta County executives spent the most on foreign travel in the year to June when county officials gobbled Sh827.9 million.
Data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) shows Taita Taveta officials spent Sh76.3 million on foreign trips, followed by Mombasa (Sh64.8 million) and Kericho at Sh60.5 million during the period.
Governors have in the past received backlash for using conferences as an excuse to travel abroad with others attending meetings that are not in their mandate.
In March last year, governors accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of discrimination when it directed that only county officials travelling to the United States for official duties on behalf of the national government qualify for special visas.
The Sh827.9 million spending comes amid governors’ opposition against fresh efforts by the Ministry of Devolution to curtail foreign travel as part of austerity measures.
Devolution Principal Secretary Charles Sunkuli last month wrote to all county secretaries and clerks of county assemblies giving new directives on how to cut foreign travel costs.
The fresh austerity push demands that before members of the county assembly (MCAs) or county executives travel abroad for seminars, tours or conferences, they must write a statement on how that travel will benefit the county.
Other top spenders on foreign travel in the year to June are county officials from Kisii who splashed Sh48.5 million and Nakuru executives who spent Sh43 million.
Garissa, Turkana and Vihiga county executives did not spend a penny on foreign trips during the review period.
The national government recently announced spending cuts that saw the Treasury slash Sh9 billion from county funds in the current financial year.
Overall, county governments spent Sh11.36 billion on travel being Sh9.86 billion on domestic travel and Sh1.5 billion on foreign travel.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
