The government has put a limit on the number of senior officials that will be allowed to travel abroad through new guidelines announced by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.
According to the circular, delegations headed by Cabinet Secretaries or Chief Administrative Secretaries shall not exceed four, including the head of the delegation.
Those headed by Principal Secretaries, Chairpersons or Chief Executive Officers of parastatals shall be capped at three members.
The circular further states that if a ministry has only one PS, the CS and the PS should not both be outside the country at any given time.
Kinyua added that all PSs shall have to inform the CS in charge of their State Department and fellow PSs within the ministry about the period of travel before their departure.
They will also be expected to communicate the names of people who will act on their behalf during their absence.
Kinyua stated that the officers shall continue to seek clearance with President Uhuru Kenyatta before embarking on any foreign trip.
Henceforth, every CS will be required to make monthly returns with respect to all travels made in the previous month, also indicating the expenditure incurred and the expected benefits.
Kinyua explained that the guidelines were informed by the need to foster coherence and underscore the applicable threshold for the grant of international travel clearance.
This move reiterates the government’s austerity measures to reduce the cost of trips made outside the country by government officials.
