William Ruto Limits Cabinet Secretaries, PSs Travel To 45 Days Per Year

• William Ruto limited Cabinet and Principal Secretaries from travelling abroad for more than 45 days a year to minimise the cost of foreign travel
• The directive also suspended non-essential travel, and all requests for travel by state officers must now be copied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Permission to travel by state officers will only be obtained from the Office of the President through his chief of staff

Nairobi - President William Ruto has limited Cabinet and principal Secretaries from travelling abroad for more than 45 days a year.

In a bid to minimise the cost of foreign trips by public servants, Ruto issued new guidelines on Monday.

In a letter seen by TUKO.co.ke, the directive, issued by Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei, also suspended non-essential travel.

How to apply for travel

All requests for travel by state officers must now be copied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for advisory.

Permission to travel by state officers will only be obtained from the Office of the President through his chief of staff.

Delegations headed by Cabinet secretaries will be at most four persons, including the CS.

Delegations by principal secretaries, chairpersons and CEOs of state operations will be at most three persons, including the head of the delegation.

The directive further clarified that the delegation should include the most relevant technical persons to assist the principal in meetings about the travel.

Personal assistants and security personnel will not be approved for travel, except the assistants to people with disability.

The deputy president and the prime cabinet secretaries are exempted from this requirement.

Meetings to attend, travel requests

The officials are only required to attend policy-related meetings, events or activities.

They will need to submit a complete travel application on or before seven working days before the travel date.

"Travel requests received after the close of business on the deadline as well as incomplete applications will not be processed. The application shall included and invitation letter addressed to each applicant by name, outlining roles to be played and whether the activity is full or partially sponsored," the letter said.

Travel requests received after the deadline and incomplete applications will not be processed after the close of business.

The application will need to include an invitation letter addressed to each applicant by name, outlining the roles to be played and whether the activity is fully or partially sponsored.

It will also need to include the program for the proposed event, written confirmation from the head of the procurement unit on the air ticket cost for all delegation members, written confirmation from the head of the finance unit on the total expenses of the delegation, and salaries and remuneration commission approved rates for the country of travel.