Around 16 MPs have been in Dubai on a financial training course.
This will have cost around Sh10 million for business class tickets, hotel accommodation, per diems and the cost of the course.
The MPs, including the Finance committee chairperson Gladys Wanga, are taking a five-day 'masterclass' in Public Finance Management. The course is conducted by Zoe Talent Management, one of the many HR companies in Dubai that offer such courses.
This trip was absurd. Firstly, there is supposedly a ban on foreign travel at the moment because of government's cash flow crisis. Surely the parliamentary Finance committee should have respected that!
Secondly, Dubai is a Covid hotspot with much higher rates of infection than Kenya.
Thirdly, Zoe Talent Solutions cannot provide better training than the Kenya School of Government. Kenya has academics with PhDs in public finance and professionals who have worked at the IMF and top financial institutions. Who were the instructors at Zoe Talent Solutions?
This trip to Dubai was a joyride - pure and simple! Gladys Wanga and the other members should resign from the Finance committee. They have proved themselves incompetent to supervise government spending.
Quote of the day: "When you are frightened, don't sit still, keep on doing something."
Grace Ogot
The Kenyan author died on March 18, 2015
