The government has denied viral media reports that 100 Members of Parliament have been sent to Ethiopia to witness the upcoming African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson vote.
The purported trip by MPs had raised questions about who was footing their travel expenses, with critics claiming the government was misusing the taxpayers’ money on them.
However, Foreign Affairs and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi dismissed the claim, saying anyone wishing to travel to Ethiopia in solidarity with the Kenyan candidate in the vote, Raila Odinga, will do so at their expense and volition.
Mudavadi clarified that the government’s delegation to Addis Ababa had been made lean in line with the austerity measures sanctioned by President William Ruto, and no one out of the delegation was being sponsored by the taxpayer’s money.
“We are conscious of the economic situation in Kenya, and I want Kenyans to appreciate this. So we have a lean delegation coming here. The Kenyans who are coming, the ones who are being highlighted, are coming out of their volition. It’s not an expenditure from the government of Kenya,” said Mudavadi.
