EAC saves $3.4m from travel expenses

EAC Secretary General, Liberat Mfumukeko disclosed that travel expenditures fell to 9.1m/ US dollar in the period ending February 2017 compared to 12.5m/ US dollar in the previous financial year, which is a drop of 3.4m/ US dollar.

EAC travel expenditure includes air tickets for EAC Staff, air tickets for Partner States’ delegates and other participants at EAC meetings, and daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for EAC staff, partner states delegates and other participants in EAC meetings.

Mr Mfumukeko said some of the most significant cost reductions were in expenditure on air tickets which dropped by 456,491/ US dollar and air tickets for partner states’ delegates and other participants to EAC meetings which declined by 408,273/ US dollar.

The Secretary General said that DSA for EAC staff also plunged from 4.5m/ US dollar to 3.2m/ US dollar over the same period, which is a difference of 1.36m/ US dollar.

Moreover, expenditure on DSA for delegates to EAC meetings went down from 4.4m/ US dollar to 3.5m/US dollar, which is a drop of 1.05m/ US dollar. Mr Mfumukeko added that the EAC overall travel budget has declined significantly over the past three financial years.

He said the Community’s travel budget was 28.1m/ US dollar in the 2014/2015 fiscal year, then 28m/ US dollar in the 2015/2016 and 21m/ US dollar 2016/2017 financial year.

He said the secretariat has since April 2016 been undergoing administrative and institutional reforms aimed at cutting down on costs and reducing wastage in its expenditure

SOURCE: DAILY NEWS

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