Duale defends Ruto’s Sh18.5m trip in Chamber

By ALLAN KISIA and VITALIS KIMUTAI

Leader of Majority in Parliament Aden Duale tabled documents before the House showing Government paid Sh18.5 million for a trip by Deputy President William Ruto.

Duale said the money paid only catered for travel expenses for the President and 14 delegates including four MPs from the Senate and the National Assembly noting that they were guests of the countries they had visited.

“The tendering of the aircraft the Deputy President used was done in accordance with Section 74 of the Public Procurement Act of 2005 and the quotation was sourced from three aircraft service providers,” Duale stated.

Duale refuted reports that money (Sh100 million) was wired to the aircraft company and stated that no single cent has been paid yet.

He tabled the documents from the aviation company e-ADC Limited which stated that there was no contract worth US$1.2M with the office of the Deputy President or any other Government department.

“This is to clarify that the official invoice sent to the office of the Deputy President is of the amount as agreed of US$221,000 (Sh221,000). We are not aware of any other invoice of a higher amount this should not be regarded as official invoices from e-ADC,” said the letter signed by Eytan Nevo T.

He justified the hiring of the jet saying the trip was urgent, the Deputy President could not use the presidential jet and that they took into account the safety, convenience and comfort of Ruto.

“Ruto could not use the Air Force One of President Uhuru. Why would Ruto use a commercial flight and end up stranded in Gabon for 14 days. Also, there are no direct flights to some of this countries,” added Duale.

He further added that Ruto was meeting Heads of State and thus had to comply with their diaries.

The Deputy President and his delegation travelled to Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria while a scheduled visit to Algeria was cancelled as the country’s President was undergoing treatment.