Kenyan MPs in Russia for World Cup insist they are on official duty

“Accept it, and let us watch the world cup tournament on your behalf.” Those were the sentiments of some of the Kenyan Members of Parliament currently in Russia as debate rages about what their trip is costing Kenyan taxpayers.

The close to 30 politicians traveled Russia for the World Cup tournament, despite Kenya having never qualified for the competition. The trip has sparked outrage among many Kenyans who feel aggrieved that their tax money is going to waste.

In their defense, the travelling Members of Parliament are insisting the matter has been blown out of proportion saying that the time in Russia has been well spent.

The cabinet secretary for sports Rashid Echesa was quick to distance himself from the trip and its purpose saying that the legislators’ trip was paid for by parliament.

“ We are aware that the National Assembly sports committee members are in Russia on a World Cup bench-marking tour. That is fully catered for by the parliamentary sports committee budget that is not hinged to the ministry of sports and heritage,” said CS Echesa.

“We strive to concentrate on sports development, hence we sent a Delegation to the 2018 IAAF World U20 Competitions in Tampere, Finland. We are currently in Finland to Bid for the Rights to Host the World Under-20 Competitions in 2020,” he added.

Lets take a look at Benchmarking: The oxford dictionary defines bench-marking as the evaluation of something by comparison with a standard.

One of the MPs, Homa Bay town MP Peter Kaluma, said they wanted to learn how such a big event is organised.

He said they will come back to Kenya and table a report on the same in Parliament.

According to him, this is the main reason why MPs in Russia could not pay for the trip using their own money because they are on official duty representing Kenya.

Most of the politicians there are set to attend the final between France and Croatia at the Luzhniki stadium on Sunday.