President Uhuru Kenyatta has made 31 foreign trips since he was sworn in for his second term two years ago, raising questions about value for money.
While the National Treasury has been implementing budget cuts, the budget for the Presidency which comprises State House and Deputy President William Ruto’s office has not been cut.
In 14 months, the President has flown to more than 30 countries including Russia, Japan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan and the United Kingdom.
He is currently in Saudi Arabia for an undisclosed period from where is expected to proceed to Botswana for the official swearing-in of President-elect Eric Mokgweetsi Masisi.
During the first term alone, President Kenyatta travelled to 86 capital cities. His busiest year was 2015 when the head of state made 26 trips.
Since he assumed office Kenyatta has insisted on cutting costs in government and at some point announced that he and his Deputy would take pay cuts.
But the President’s frequent foreign trips have attracted debate and criticism with questions abou their benefit to the country.
State House has previously defended Kenyatta’s frequent trips abroad, arguing that most of them had the potential to attract investments.
According to reports by the Controller of Budget tabled in Parliament, Kenyatta and his deputy Ruto had increased their travel costs for trips five times by March this year.
While the head of state prefers to fly out of the country, Ruto has been crisscrossing the country addressing meetings.
According to the Controller of Budget, the Presidency spent Sh190 million in the nine months.
Uhuru’s foreign trips are a sharp contrast to retired President Mwai Kibaki’s 10-year tenure during which he made 33 foreign trips.
His own father, founding President Jomo Kenyatta had a phobia for flying and hardly left Kenya.
At some point in 2015, Kenyans christened Uhuru “Kenya’s visiting President.”
“Why do we need a President who hires private jets when companies are being closed, youth have no jobs?,”Ndungu Wainaina, the executive director of the International Centre for Policy Conflict, stated.
In September , Treasury ordered “brutal” budget cuts in light of a revenue shortfall of Sh91 billion and rising expenditure pressures.
Acting Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani said in order to contain the resultant fiscal gap, the government had directed a freeze on non-core expenditures which include foreign and domestic travel and hospitality.
A Cabinet Secretary on foreign travel would have a delegation of only three people.
However, the President travels with a big entourage including security detail.
For the Russia and Japan trip, the government hired an Airbus A318 Elite, a luxurious aircraft that has a capacity of up to 19 people and which costs as much as Sh1.8 million an hour to hire.
The President flew directly from Mombasa where he had led the country in marking Mashujaa Day to Tokyo then to Sochi before jetting back to Nairobi last Friday to celebrate his 58th birthday.
On Monday, Uhuru left the country again for another trip to Saudi Arabia and is expected to detour to Botswana.
While State House was yet to tell the nation the President’s mission in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh media reports that Uhuru is among global political and business leaders attending a financial summit dubbed “Davos in the desert”.
The three-day “Future Investment Initiative summit” is said to be an initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is keen to diversify the oil-based economy by 2030 .
Apart from Uhuru, the other leaders expected to address the summit include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, King Abdullah of Jordan, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and former British Prime Minister David Cameron.
State House spokesperson Kanze Dena was yet to confirmed the mission of the President in Saudi Arabia by press time.
Yesterday, international relations scholar Prof Macharia Munene, told the Star that the President’s foreign travels can only be seen to be of benefit depending on the outcome.
“Presidential travels are necessary and very important depending on the object and achievements. If it is a joyrider with a huge delegation of hangers on then it is wasteful. Some of these trips have been beneficial to the country while others are not,” he told the Star on phone.
Belgut MP Nelson Koech who is also a member of the National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations committee said while good for the President to maintain contact with other countries, it “is also prudent for him to lead by example on implementing austerity measures”.
He said Uhuru should also be delegating his deputy and at times Cabinet Secretaries, saying such trips would not be expensive as compared to when the President is the one traveling.
“ I share the concerns being raised by taxpayers that some of these trips being made at such tough economic times should be reduced or stopped. This is the time the President who is keen to secure his legacy should also be touring parts of Kenya to interact with Kenyans,” he said.
Ironically, the President has been rallying the government to embrace cost-cutting measures especially by slashing expenditure on non-core budget items to tame the ballooning public sector wage projected to hit Sh760 billion this financial year.
The Jubilee administration, which has been blamed for superintending over a massive borrowing spree in the last seven years, has soared the public debt to over Sh5.5 trillion with a freehand to borrow more up to Sh9 trillion.
Despite vowing to adopt far-reaching austerity measures and curb wastage in government to save funds for development projects, the Jubilee administration’s appetite for foreign trips is skyrocketing.
This is despite an uproar in Judiciary over a move by the National Treasury to cut its budget for the current financial year by 50 per cent in what is likely to impact negatively on the delivery of Justice.
Already, the Judiciary which is the third arm of government, has announced a shutdown of a couple of key services owing to the cash crunch being experienced.
On October 11, the President was in Ethiopia to grace the inauguration of the Unity Park and before that on September 25, he was in New York for a week attending the 74th United Nations General Assembly .
Last month he visited Singapore (September 21), Zimbabwe ( September 14) and Uganda (September 12)
Early in August, the President made a six-day trip to the Caribbean states of Jamaica and Barbados and he closed the month with a trip to Japan when he attended JTICAD 7 conference.
In the same month of August, he visited Sudan to witness the signing of a pact that will establish a transitional government.
In July he visited Zambia for inaugural National Economic Summit and on July 5, he was in Tanzania for a two-day private visit on special invitation by his counterpart John Pombe Magufuli.
In June , Uhuru was in Canada attending the 2019 Global Women Deliver Conference while in May and April he was in Italy and China G7 Summit and business forum.
In March, the President toured two African countries – Namibia, for the country’s independence celebrations and Rwanda where he was the chief guest at the annual national leadership retreat.
Previously, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma defended the President saying the foreign trips have helped consolidate Kenya’s relevance internationally.
“Looking back at the last six years, I can confidently confirm that the high-level diplomacy paradigm has yielded manifold outcomes in three broad spheres. Kenya has established solid and productive relationships across the world – in Africa, Middle East, Americas, Europe, Asia and the other parts of the world,” Juma said.
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