Mr President, walk the talk on foreign travel budget cuts

President William Ruto during the Future Investment Initiative conference at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [PCS]

President William Ruto's administration must now actualise its repeated declaration on the need to reduce wanton wastage of public finances.

According to the latest declaration by Dr Ruto, his government is committed to cutting travel expenses by Sh11 billion, this good news can only be actualised if Parliament redirects the amount elsewhere.

Budgets can only be adjusted by Parliament. A mere declaration on matters of finance without legal action binding the announcement amounts to hot air, a public gimmick.

Once votes have been passed by an Assembly, it is only that arm of government that can initiate changes for a different expense.

I hope that with his experience in parliamentary matters, the President has already communicated his directive to the National Assembly and the Senate for adoption.

The same must apply to county governments. Even though the country has a two-tier system, the independence of the smaller governance units can easily see governors ignore the President's directive on the basis that all county expenditures are legally approved by respective county assemblies.

Unless also moved to reduce allocation for the trips, some governors can easily ignore the orders from the national government.

The decision by the President to willingly cut his foreign trips budget plus 50 per cent of the other two arms of government, brings to focus what our priorities are in budget making.

Those entrusted with budget-making responsibilities owe Kenyans explanations about what influences the allocations they attach to various votes. Budget-making processes must always be determined by goals to be achieved in a given financial year.

We must re-look at what we have budgeted for each financial year and if indeed our MPs and MCAs take time to internalise contents of budget estimates presented to them for approval.

All assemblies should recall all their budgets and align them to matters that can help improve the economy in the face of the tough times that Kenyans are facing. Kenyans are heavily taxed to raise more money only for it to be redirected midway.

Our reason and priorities seem to be upside down as taxation bites the poor masses. It's believed that corruption is deeply hidden in those budgets and I would like to applaud the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o and David Ndii for singling out wastage by the State through unnecessary travels.

Unfortunately, a day after the President won accolades from Kenyans by slamming doors on wasteful foreign travels, he flew to Congo. I assume the trip came too soon that it was impossible to cancel it.

Going forward, however, I hope he will abide by his own directive. Mr President, it should not only apply to foreign travels. Reduce countryside tours and delegates.

We must review our taxation regimes. We must also refocus our budget-making process and ensure it remains a means by which the executive and the legislative branches together formulate a coherent set of tax and spending proposals for the benefit of the taxpayers.

Mr Omanga is a media practitioner