Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenyan saved Ksh289.3 million on expenses that would have otherwise been used on foreign travel for MPs – a report by the Controller of Budget (CoB) has revealed.
In the period under review, from July to September 2020, the legislators spent less on travel, training and hospitality compared to a similar period in the previous year.
The considerable drop was attributed to the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Some budget items recorded low levels of expenditure, which was attributed to the impact of Covid-19 mitigation measures adopted by the government to curb the spread of the disease,” Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o stated in the report.
The MPs spent Ksh966.3 million on travel, training, and per diem in the period under review which was lower than Ksh1.255 billion spent in a similar period in 2019.
According to the report, MPs allowances for foreign trips and training dropped spending Ksh16.88 Million down from Ksh349.3 Million in a similar period the previous year.
On the other hand, their allowances for local travel and night-outs increased.
As for counties, the report revealed that their internal revenue collection fell by Ksh1.86 Billion, which was attributed to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) showed that the devolved units raised Ksh5.85 billion in the period under review down from Ksh7.71 billion in three months to September last year.
In June, the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) approved the reduction of the legislators’ domestic and foreign travels, hospitality and training budgets by KSh2.8 billion.
A month later, President Uhuru Kenyatta rejected an amendment of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 which would have protected Parliament from budget cuts.
President Kenyatta stated that allowing Parliament to retain unused monies at the end of every financial year would lead to wastage.
“He (the President) adds that the provision in the bill may have an adverse impact on the principle of separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislature with regard to the management of public monies,” Speaker Muturi explained.
