SAM'S SENSE: The Ksh.45 billion benchmark

Recently, the Controller of Budget released two critical reports detailing how the national government and the 47 county governments spent public resources for the financial year ending June 2024.

Once again, the alarm has been raised about growing expenditure on travel. The national government increased its expenditure, reaching Ksh.27 billion, while the counties maintained their spending at Ksh17.6 billion. Much of this travel is domestic - meetings, visits, and tours.

On the global scale, the national government spent heavily on bilateral meetings, state and official visits, training, workshops, and negotiations.

At the county level, executive committee members and MCAs went on benchmarking tours abroad, attended trainings, and participated in conferences covering various leadership topics. These trips, while often framed as necessary, raise questions about their actual impact on the counties they represent.

Take, for example, Baringo County. Two members of the Executive Committee took a trip to Turkey for the Africa Business and Economic Forum at a cost of Ksh1.8 million. A year later, what tangible benefits have been brought home?

Similarly, 47 members of the Elgeyo Marakwet County Assembly visited the East African Legislative Assembly in Arusha, Tanzania, for benchmarking at a cost of Ksh16.6 million. That's Ksh.354,000 per person for a short visit. What lasting impact has this had on legislation in Elgeyo Marakwet?

And the cases go on. A member of the Elgeyo Marakwet County Assembly travelled to Dubai for training on "building smart cities" at a cost of Ksh.1.6 million. One year later, what has changed in the towns and villages of the county?

Between July 2023 and June 2024, county governments made 115 visits to Dubai, with varying numbers of officials in attendance. There were nearly 30 trips to the US by county officials. One notable case involved a Kakamega County Executive Committee member travelling to Seattle, Washington, for a "Luhya Community official meeting"—for Ksh.1.35 million. Was such a trip really necessary for one person to attend a meeting about a community based in Kenya?

Other questionable trips include six Baringo MCAs flying to Singapore for a leadership workshop, costing Ksh.4.9 million, and 15 legislators travelling to Istanbul, Turkey, for a two-day course on "Mastering People Management and Team Leadership" but staying for a week.

One MP recently shared her ordeal of being stranded at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) during an aviation strike. She was scheduled to fly to South Africa for an event happening four days later, ostensibly to handle accreditation. Four days early for accreditation?

In total, the counties spent over Ksh.2 billion on foreign travel. Just imagine what Ksh.2 billion could do. It could sponsor 544 medical students through six years of study, making them doctors. Or, in a single year, it could sponsor 3,267 medical students. If used for teacher salaries, Ksh.2 billion could pay 8,333 JSS intern teachers for a year - teachers who won't be confirmed to permanent roles until 2025 because the government is short by Ksh.13 billion. The travel budget of Ksh.45 billion could cover that shortfall more than three times over.

So, if Ksh.2 billion must be spent by counties on foreign travel, if Ksh.45 billion is to be spent by both national and county governments, it should at least make sense to the taxpayers who are footing the bill. Otherwise, counties should heed the advice of the Controller of Budget and "minimize travel costs by holding activities within the county headquarters." Sensible, right?

That is my Sense tonight.