The government has issued a stringent guideline to stem the penchant for foreign trips among county government officials.
The government projects to slash by half the sh 65.5 billion foreign and domestic travel for county workers and memebers of county assemblies
In the new strigent regulations , MCAs and county staff will now have to justify and seek the approval of the ministry of Devolution to travel abroad.
The approval will be made upon submission of the needs and benefits assessment before travel arrangements are made.
Both the Council of Governors and the County Assemblies Forum reacted angrily to the new regulations, terming them as an assault on devolution.
All applications for international travel by county staff will be accompanied by a statement of benefit to the respective county and endorsed by the County Secretary.
“In the case of MCAs, requests for travel approval must be accompanied by minutes of the respective assembly committee authenticated by the speaker of the respective assembly,” reads the circular by Devolution Principal Secretary Charles Sunkuli.
“The guidelines apply to all staff of county executives and county assemblies,” adds Sunkuli.
The circular to county assembly clerks and county secretaries warns that foreign workshops requiring participation or registration fees will not be approved.
The circular is copied to Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau and Council of Governors CEO Jacqueline Mogeni, and County Assemblies Forum CEO Judy Oduma.
The MCAs will be required to disclose air ticket cost, accommodation and daily expenditures, visa fees, registration fees and other extra expenses.
“All travel requests shall indicate the total cost of travel (if they are to be met by the GoK funds or the organizers) for each person,”adds the circular.
At the end of an official visit, the delegation shall provide a report as well as recommendation for implementation. This report should as much as possible be shared across government and counties for others to learn from,” Sunkuli said.
The MCAs and county ministers will also be required to furnish the Devolution PS with information on budget allocation for the trip and the relevant vote in printed estimates where the funds will be drawn from.
The ministry will only approve conferences seeking MCAs to pay participation fees to “recognized” international institutions where Kenya is a member.
The move is aimed at curbing the appetite for foreign trips even when the MCAs or county staff have no official invitation letters detailing how the cost of such events would be made. It is part of cross cutting measures by the national government to rationalize travel budgets across the board in light of economic adversity.
Auditor General Edward Ouko has previously flagged suspicious costs incurred by county staff on nondescript bench-marking missions abroad or honouring invitations from faceless companies for training sessions.
The trips offer an opportunity for public officials to mint money but are often of little value to the entities they represent. Often, no back to office reports are filed or followed up with implementation.