Now county leaders dump foreign trips

Members of County Assemblies Sunday resolved not to visit foreign countries.
Instead, they said they would embark on an inter-county exchange programme.
In a meeting that brought together Public Accounts Committee members from all counties under the name Accountability Kenya, the MCAs said the ban on foreign tours by some countries was in bad taste.
“The eight nations have created the impression that we visit for fun. We are going to start visiting each other’s counties to prove them wrong,” Mr Omar Ahmed, the vice-chair AK said.

The US, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa and Rwanda wrote to the Foreign Affairs Ministry to complain of the frequent visits.
The AK resolved to start peer review forums where they would learn from each other.

“There will be a regional peer review panel that will plan visits by MCAs to other counties so as to pick the best practices to be replicated in their counties,” the amendment read in part.

SHUN RETREATS AND TRIPS

Mr Ahmed challenged MCAs to shun the belief of retreats and expensive trips.

AK was formed last year by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee. It brings together members of all the public accounts committees in counties, the Auditor-General, Controller of Budget, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Public Procurement Oversight Authority.