Not at taxpayer expense, Muturi tells MPs over volleyball trip

If MPs had their way, today they would be making their way to the venue of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, all at taxpayers’ expense.

Ten legislators — five from the Senate and another five from the National Assembly — had indicated that they wanted Parliament to fund their trip to watch the Kenyan team performing.

The request came just months after another group of MPs made the infamous trip to Russia to watch the FIFA World Cup.

The dust from the controversy generated by that trip is yet to settle after the MPs were accused of plagiarising a report from Internet sources to justify their spendthrift ways with public money.

The volleyball championship kicks off today but the group of about 10 legislators will not travel after National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi blocked their plan.

TAXATION

The legislators include Senators Irungu Kang’ata (Murang’a), Andrew Lang’at (Bomet), Christine Zawadi (nominated), Beatrice Kwamboka (nominated) and Victor Prengei (nominated), and MPs Dan Wanyama (Webuye West) and Beatrice Kones (Bomet East), among others.

They had requested Mr Muturi to allow them to travel to Japan for 14 days to watch the national team, Malkia Strikers, in a trip that was to be fully paid for by the taxpayer.

This would have included the cost of their air tickets, meals and accommodation, match tickets and per diems, among other perks, at a time when wananchi are feeling the pinch of increased taxation to repay Kenya’s growing debt.

However, having been guided and taken ‘judicial notice’ of the public fury, outcry and condemnation that greeted the July trip to Russia, Mr Muturi, who is also the chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) that is in-charge of MPs’ welfare, did not waste time cancelling the whole thing.

The public expressed their displeasure over what value those who went to Russia would add to the development of sports in the country even after it emerged that they had gobbled at least Sh35 million of taxpayer’s money.

WORLD CUP

The world’s biggest football extravaganza was held from June 14 to July 15.

Although Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka had approved the request for the five senators to travel, Mr Muturi begged to differ. And he had the final say on the matter.

Interestingly, the members of the Sports Committee of the National Assembly chaired by Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka flew to Russia on the pretext of a working trip and were joined by a group of about four senators.

However, when the committee returned to Kenya, it was unable to produce a benchmarking report on their experience in Russia, as standard practice requires. This forced Mr Muturi to compel them to write a report or risk sanctions.

When the MPs finally yielded to Mr Muturi’s pressure, their report was a scandal of sorts as it was discovered that it had been copy-pasted from sports websites, an indication that they may have gone to “do their own things”.

SHAME

The Russia scandal erupted after some of the legislators posted selfies on social media of themselves enjoying matches in Russia.

"Isn't that a big bad joke, that leaders can travel all the way to Russia to watch football when we have a lot of problems here?" a Kenyan posed on social media.

"Oh my God, I want to believe that is not true, the pictures some of them are posting," another Kenyan said. "It means they have a lot of time and resources to go to Russia. When will they serve their constituents?"

This is probably why when the letter by Mr Wanyama requesting for the trip to Tokyo landed on the Speaker’s desk on Wednesday this week, Mr Muturi trashed it without much ado.

The Webuye West MP is the head of the Bunge volleyball team. Reached for comment, Mr Wanyama said; "Sorry, can't talk right now."

However, an MP who was to have accompanied him on the trip said: “The Speaker has rejected our request to watch our own girls take on others from across the world. It is unfair because our colleagues were allowed to go to Russia despite Kenya not being represented at the tournament!”

PUBLIC DEBT

Sources within Parliament told the Saturday Nation that the Speaker was furious when the request came to him, especially at the time the country is struggling economically.

“It was so scandalous to send the MPs to Russia. How can it be that these ones want to travel to Japan at the time the buzzword on the lips of Kenyans is austerity measures to check against wastage of the limited public resources,” an MP who did not wish to be named said.

The country is faced with the challenge of raising revenue to meet its key obligations for the current financial year with a bludgeoning public debt (about Sh5.2 trillion) further complicating matters.

About two weeks ago, the MPs approved a supplementary budget that saw the government slash its Sh3.026 trillion budget for this year by Sh37.6 billion.

The cuts have seen a drastic reduction in the country’s development expenditure as well as education the sector.

The MPs who travelled to Russia include Mr Munyaka, Messrs Bernard Shinali (Ikolomani), Chris Omulele (Luanda), Dan Wanyama (Webuye West), Jones Mlolwa (Voi) and a retinue of parliamentary staff.

The Senators were Mr James Orengo (Siaya), Mr Cleophas Malala (Kakamega) and Ms Millicent Omanga (nominated).