Thirty-three members of the Embu County Assembly have traveled to Arusha for a two-week training in the quest to learn basic etiquette.
This follows the adjournment of Assembly sittings from December 1, 2021, to February 8, 2022, for the Christmas holidays.
It is the second time the MCAs are going to Arusha this year; in September they visited Arusha to learn basic etiquette and campaign language.
Similarly, the speaker, clerk, and a few members of the Assembly's staff will spend 20 million from taxpayers funds and an additional cost of two to three million to cater for the training fees which will be paid to the East and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI).
According to reports, the MCAs will receive a total sum of Ksh 520,576 which translates to a daily stipend of Ksh 37,184 which is part of their wages drawn from their per diem allowances.
A recent supplementary budget passed by the County Assembly states that Ksh10 million was taken from the County Assembly Sports Association (CASA) and transferred to their foreign travel account to cater for their travel expenses after emptying the account following their previous trip to Tanzania.
As stated by a report, the MCAs who were overheard complaining about their financial woes, vowed to push for more trips to cash-in, ahead of their retirement.
At the same time, the politicians could be rushing against time to repay the Ksh 600,000 tax debt for the Ksh2 million car loan gifted to them by President Uhuru Kenyatta in a bid to pass the Building Bridges Initiative(BBI).
In addition, the MCAs who have enacted very few bills into law this year, have cashed in millions of shillings from tens of retreats to Nairobi and Mombasa.
Embu Senator Njeru Ndwiga castigated the move terming it as a waste of public funds.
He additionally stated that the Embu MCAs are fond of traveling outside the country for even matters that can be discussed within the region.
" You will never find our MCAs in Embu, they are always on the move Tanzania, Nairobi and this is wastage of public funds," Ndwiga remarked.
