MURIIRA BRIAN: Tame MPs extravagant spending on foreign trips

Members of Parliament spending on foreign trips has risen in the quarter that ended in June.

Data from the Controller of Budget revealed that Members of the National Assembly and senators spent over Sh703 million on foreign trips.

This becomes the highest quarterly expenditure by the legislature.

Overall, Sh1.52 billion from taxpayers was spent on foreign travel by State officials in the said quarter.

The lawmakers accounted for 46.3 per cent of the expenditure.

MPs have used these overseas trips, which many times involve lavish allowances of even over Sh100,000 per diem, to amplify their pay.

This spending craze on foreign trips came despite the Treasury suspending any non-core travel for State officials.

The non-core foreign trips by MPs must be stopped.

They are an example of wastage of public funds and are setbacks towards efforts put by the National Treasury and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to try and reduce our already ballooned wage bill, make savings and fund government’s development programmes without relying too much on debt.

The MPs’ huge cash appetite has once again portrayed them as greedy in a country struggling with rising unemployment and poverty.

These foreign trips have resulted in little or no socioeconomic benefits.

 

Edited by Kiilu Damaris