Stop wastage on retreats and benchmarking trips

 Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu. [File, Standard]

Kenya is facing a brutal cost-of-living crisis, strained public services, ballooning debt and an education system where hundreds of thousands of Grade One learners are unable to report to school because their parents cannot raise basic school fees.

Yet, in the middle of this hardship, national and county governments continue to haemorrhage billions of shillings on so-called “retreats” and “benchmarking trips” that deliver little to no value to the taxpayer. Over the last decade, government audit reports and parliamentary briefings have repeatedly flagged excessive spending on travel, accommodation, conferencing and per diems.