Revealed: Gov’t spent Ksh.17.3B on travel, Ksh.4.9B on hospitality as austerity measures ignored

The Controller of Budget (CoB) has flagged a defiance of austerity measures in the national government budget expenditure.

In her nine months expenditure report, Parliament and State House continue to gobble billions of shillings on foreign and domestic travel despite calls by President William Ruto to cut down on travel expenditure.

The CoB report detailing the nine months expenditure for the national government shows that Ksh.3.4 trillion had been spent by March 2026, with 85 per cent or Ksh.2.9 trillion going to recurrent expenditure while Ksh.507.9 billion was spent on development.

Despite persistent declarations of austerity measures by the government, the report shows that expenditure on travel and hospitality is on the rise. In total, the government spent Ksh.17.3 billion on both domestic and foreign travel.

State House is among lead spenders on foreign travel, only second to the Foreign Affairs Department. It spent Ksh.1.3 billion on foreign travel and Ksh.69 million on local travel.

The Office of the Deputy President, during the same period, spent Ksh.76 million on foreign travel and Ksh.222 million on domestic travel.

The CoB, in her report, says the National Assembly spent Ksh.2.8 billion on foreign travel between July 2025 and March 2026, while Ksh.1.5 billion was spent on domestic travel during the same period.

Senators, on their part, spent Ksh.1 billion on local travel and an additional Ksh.815 million on foreign travel.

The Controller of Budget has also highlighted hospitality expenditure with the entire national government including Parliament and Judiciary spending Ksh.4.9 billion.

This is a 33 per cent increment from the same period the previous year when Ksh.3.7 billion was spent on hospitality.

In the period under review, Parliament spent Ksh.283 million on hospitality.

State House, the Office of the Deputy President and the Executive Office of the President collectively spent a total of Ksh.703 million in the nine months.