Ruto issues new travel guidelines for state officials

The government has imposed restrictions on the number of persons accompanying Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Chairpersons and Chief Executives of State Corporations.

In a circular issued by Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei late last week and which seeks to reduce expenditure across all arms of government, State executives will now have limited periods overseas, their delegation sizes have been significantly reduced while foreign travel application procedures and timelines have been reviewed.

The decision comes in the wake of revelations that some Cabinet Secretaries have been aggrandising their foreign stay while in the company of numerous support officers, some of whom are needless during their travels.

For instance, Trade, Investments and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria recently travelled to the State of Qatar in the company of 30 other delegates some of whose roles were duplicated.

During the February 27 – March 3, 2023 trip, Kuria was accompanied by two protocol officers, advisors, several personal assistants for his juniors and directors of various departments.

Among those who travel;ed with Kuria are Abubakar Hassan Abubakar who is the PS State Department for Investments, Paul Rono, the PS in charge of Water, Kenneth Chelule Langat, the CEO Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), Philip Kiplagat Koech, a protocol officer, Tabby Rose Wanja, a Chief Liaison Officer and Oleg Vodchits, an advisor.

Others were Aleksandr Zingman, another advisor, Hussein Adam Mohamed, the CEO Epza, Sally Njambi Muchoki, the chairperson KenInvest, Joshup Kiptoo, the CS advisor, Charles Kahuthu, another CS advisor among others.  “The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Kenya presents its compliments to the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Nairobi and has the honour to inform that Hon. Moses Kiarie Kuria, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Trade Investments and Industry is scheduled to travel to the State of Qatar from February 27 to March 3, 2023. The cabinet secretary will be accompanied by the under listed. (Names, titles, date of birth and passport numbers for 30 people),” read a letter on CS Kuria’s travel to Qatar.

Public coffers

It is such large-size delegations that draw huge allowances from public coffers that have seen the government review foreign travel guidelines for top government officials save for the President, his Deputy and Prime Cabinet Secretary. “This office has observed a less than optimal compliance standard, which has resulted in breach of some of the prescribed measures, numerous late requests and consequently difficulties in obtaining prudence and cost effectiveness as originally anticipated,” read a section of the letter by Koskei.

In the new arrangement, CSs, PSs, CEOs of various state corporations shall only be required to be out of the country for a period not exceeding seven days per travel, 15 days for every three months and 45 days annually.

No CS, PS or chairperson of a state corporation will have more than three members of a delegation accompanying him and even the considered support team will be required to be the most relevant technical people to assist the executives in their presentations. “Personal assistants and security personnel will not be approved for travel, save for assistants to persons living with disability,” announced Koskei.

In the circular, Koskei announced extension for suspension of all non-essential travels and to ascertain necessity of participation of a delegation, applications for foreign travels will now demand advisory from the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs. “Non-essential foreign travels remain suspended. This office shall, as part of the application review process, obtain advisory from the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs on the necessity of participation of a delegation from the ministry. In this regard, all requests and travel shall be copied to the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs for their information and advisory,” said Koskei.

Policy-related meetings

Koskei revealed that officers cleared to travel shall only attend policy-related meetings, events or activities and applications for such travels must be submitted on or seven days before the date of travel and applications received after 5 pm on the deadline date will not be processed.

“The applications shall include invitation letter addressed to each applicant by name outlining the role expected to be played, a program of the proposed meeting highlighting critical dates when participation is required, written confirmation from the head of procurement unit of the requesting agency, on the proposed air ticket cost for each member of the delegation, being the most economical based on prevailing market rates,” he added.

In the new changes, intra-agency approvals for lower-level officers accompanying any delegation will not be separately processed by the respective Principal Secretaries or Chief executive officers. “Such separate approvals inadvertently increase numbers beyond the limit prescribed,” said Koskei.

At the same time, Cabinet and Principal Secretaries and chief executive officers of state corporations will now be required to synchronise their foreign travel, such that both officers are not away from office at the same time.

Koskei said benchmarking visits will henceforth be required to be associated to a gazetted reform initiative targeting a policy, legal and operational outcome that is towards finalisation.

To ensure maximum prudence in use of public resources on foreign travels, Koskei urged PSs to take full control and ensure total adherence to application clearance procedures and financial controls for relevance, utility, frequency and cost efficiency tenets.

Upon return to the country, officers who manage to travel will be further required to make reports on the benefits accrued and a work plan containing programmes, projects, and initiatives to be implemented arising from their foreign trip.

The application for foreign tours, he said, is however in the process of being automated to ease submission and approval.