Raila paid thousands a night for US hotel room

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday dazzled Parliament by acknowledging that he was accommodated in the Presidential Suite of a plush US hotel which an MP said cost the taxpayer Sh602,000 ($7,000) a night.

Mr Odinga said he was booked at the super-luxurious Waldorf Astoria in New York City during a recent business trip.

He was in the US for 10 days with a delegation of ministers, permanent secretaries, MPs and other officials.

Mr Odinga was responding to Mr Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany, ODM) who wanted him to confirm that he stayed at the hotel.

Mr Kutuny also tabled the hotel’s rates, which were not contested.

The PM told the House that most delegates to the United Nations stayed at the Waldorf Astoria during meetings at the UN headquarters and, as Kenya’s Prime Minister, MPs should not expect him to “stay at some backstreet hotel”.

Mr Kutuny said that the government forked out $7,000 for the Prime Minister while the rest of the delegation paid $4,500 (Sh387,000) per night.

It is not clear if Mr Odinga and his delegation had reservations for all the 10 days given that the trip took him to Florida, Washington DC and Massachusetts.

Like Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, the Prime Minister is entitled to a presidential suite on his foreign visits.

Mr Odinga said the responsibility of booking hotels lay with the ambassadors in the countries government officials visited.

“Each government department normally meets the travel and accommodation cost of its officers on official travel abroad,” the Prime Minister said in his 45-minute weekly address to Parliament.