Raila Odinga before the election of the Chairmanship of the African Union Commission (AUC) on Saturday. Photo; Courtesy
And Blessing Tamara
The government will only cover the travel expenses of four MPs to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to support Raila Odinga.
This is the statement of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetangula, while addressing the Assembly on Thursday.
Wetangula has revealed that more than 40 MPs had submitted requests for funding to travel to Addis Ababa, to support Odinga ahead of the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairmanship election on Saturday.
Members of Parliament who will be paid their expenses include; Nelson Koech (MP for Belgut and Chairman of the Committee on Defense, Intelligence and Foreign Relations) and Lydia Haika (Taita Taveta Women’s Representative and Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora Affairs and Migrant Workers).
Bashir Abdullahi (Mandera North Member of Parliament and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations) as well as Suba North Member of Parliament and Minority Leader Millie Odhiambo will be sponsored by the government.
Wetangula’s statement comes amid widespread criticism of the government’s heavy spending, especially in relation to foreign travel.
It will be remembered that on Wednesday, the Minister with the highest authority Musalia Mudavadi defended the claims of many Kenyan delegates who arrived in Addis Ababa to support Odinga before the election on Saturday considering Kenya’s desire to grab the AUC Chairmanship.
He dismissed Kenya’s claims of sending too delegates compared to other countries, saying the Government is concerned about the economic situation.
Although he did not give a specific number of delegates, Mudavadi said the delegates, who are expected to include officials from his Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the Presidency, while claiming that other delegates arrived there with their own funding.
President Ruto and I are the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We also have officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who support this process and we have a mission here… “we have lean delegations that come here,” he said.
The 80-year-old Odinga will face Richard Randriamandrato (65) from Madagascar and Mohamoud Youssouf from Djibouti (60).
The successful candidate will succeed Moussa Faki of Chad who will leave after his two-term leadership that started in 2017 is completed.
