By Ebi Kesiena
The government has suspended foreign travel in five categories for government officials.
In a statement on Monday, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei said the constitution demands prudent and responsible utilisation of public money.
He said it is a principle that remains the guiding anchor of the government’s current fiscal consolidation and monetary policy strategies.
The suspended categories include benchmarking and study visits, training and related capacity-building Initiatives, research, academic meetings and Symposia.
Others are conferences and meetings of general participation, side events, showcase events and exhibitions and caucus and association meetings and events.
He said the outcome of the interventions has been the reduction of the resource envelope available to undertake the wide-ranging activities that have been planned in pursuit of respective governmental mandates at both the National and County levels.
“This has necessitated the need to scale down and prioritise spending, focusing on the critical operations and activities that are essential to service delivery to the citizen,” he said.
Koskei also suspended sponsored events, which often attract the need for supplementation in terms of quarter per diem and ticket upgrades.
It however, excludes the invitee, expressly waiving the anticipated top-up amount.
He said that public entities scheduled to travel and attend any pipeline events in the five categories are required to request virtual participation where available.
Koskei added that in the alternative, they are also required to engage the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs to secure the onsite participation of diplomatic officials which the government is part of the fulfilment of state obligations.
“The participation should also be pursuant to the conduct of critical state party engagements and for the purpose of fulfilling a statutory leadership or membership role, in which critical decisions impacting the country’s position are under consideration,” Koskei said.
However, Koskei said that to facilitate the implementation of the directive, the State has opted to cut the delegation size of various state officers.
