President Ruto’s office tops travel expenditure as State spends Sh27.2bn in the last year

A report by the Auditor General has disclosed that the National Government spent a staggering Sh27.2 billion on travel during the Financial Year 2023/24, marking one of the largest travel expenditures in Kenya’s history.

According to the report, top government officials spent Sh8.1 billion on domestic travel and Sh9.2 billion on international trips between July 2023 and June 2024.

The highest spending was attributed to the offices of President William Ruto, his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua, and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.

President Ruto’s office led in travel expenditure, using Sh1.7 billion within the audited period. This represents a 28 per cent increase from the previous financial year.

Deputy President Gachagua’s office recorded a significant jump in travel costs, spending Sh556.7 million—a sharp 438 per cent rise compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, Prime Cabinet Secretary Mudavadi’s office spent Sh154.5 million, reflecting a 57 per cent increase from the previous financial year.

In June this year, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o also raised an alarm over the increase in the government's expenditure on foreign and domestic travel.

According to Nyakang'o, in the first nine months of the current financial year, the government spent Sh18.18 billion on local and foreign travel as ministries and parastatals struggled to comply with austerity measures.

She noted that this marked an increase of Sh4.11 billion from the Sh14 billion that national government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) used in a similar period last year.

She also noted that some government institutions such as State House failed to submit reports detailing specifics for delegations that travelled abroad during the period under review.

"The report notes growth in travel expenditure by MDAs compared to a similar period in FY 2022/23. However, the Controller of Budget requested MDAs to submit information on foreign travel to enable review and analysis of compliance with government directives on foreign travel but some MDAs didn’t submit," Nyakang'o said in the report.

"In the period under review, the total expenditure on travel by MDAs was Sh18.18 billion comprising Sh12.33 billion and Sh5.85 billion for domestic and foreign travel respectively."