NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 7 — A new survey by Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) has listed Wildlife and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua as the most travelled member of President William Ruto’s Cabinet.
The pollster ranked Mutua top on foreign travel at 28 per cent based on 2,700 activities of Cabinet Secretaries analysed in 2023.
TIFA attributed Mutua’s foreign travel in the period under review to his role as Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary at the time.
“Given the international nature of his ministerial portfolios, extensive travel is an inherent expectation,” the pollster remarked on Wednesday.
The survey which compiled foreign trips based on news reports and social media updates by Cabinet Secretaries listed Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria in second place at 16 per cent.
Mining Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya (14 per cent), Treasury’s Njuguna Ndung’u (13 per cent) and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi (12 per cent) featured in the Top Five chart.
TIFA’s survey did not document any international trip for Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki who topped the list of Cabinet Secretaries with the highest number of local trips.
“There is no documented evidence of foreign trips linked to the roles of Kithure Kindiki (Interior) and Ezekiel Machogu (Education) in 2023,” TIFA stated.
Kindiki most travelled locally
The pollster documented 192 local trips by Kindiki traversing forty-one counties.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore came in second place with 183 trips across thirty-six counties.
Other Cabinet Secretaries who reported the highest number of local trips include Water CS Zachariah Njeru (165), Health’s Susan Nakhumicha (162), and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi (159).
Nakhumicha featured alongside Aisha Jumwa (Gender) and Kipchumba Murkomen (Roads) in the list of Cabinet Secretaries who made the least number of foreign trips at 2 per cent.
TIFA listed Bore (115), Jumwa (100), Njeru (90), Energy CS Davis Chirchir (77), and Treasury’s Ndung’u (70) among Cabinet Secretaries with the highest number of activities in Nairobi.
Kindiki (118), Nakhumicha (98), Mudavadi (78), Njeru (75) and Mvurya (79) registered the highest number of engagements outside Nairobi.
The survey also assessed visits by Cabinet Secretaries to home counties listing Mvurya and his Agriculture counterpart Mithika Linturi as the most travelled to the home counties at 22 and 19 per cent respectively.
CS Njeru’s home county activities accounted for 16 per cent of his official trips.
Machogu and ICT Eliud Owalo had 13 per cent of all local trips in their respective home counties.
