NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 7 — Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi, ICT’s Eliud Owalo, and Education’s Ezekiel Machogu have been listed among Cabinet Secretaries who made the highest number of home county visits in a new survey.
In a report published by Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) on Wednesday, the three were among a list of five Cabinet Secretaries with the highest home county visits.
Mining and Blue Economy Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya topped the chart with 22 per cent of his official engagements documented in Kwale where he served as Governor for two terms.
Kwale is among five counties that borders the Indian Ocean a key asset for the Blue Economy sector.
Linturi came in second place at 19 per cent and Water CS Zachary Njeru (16 per cent).
Home county visits by Machogu and Owalo accounted for 13 per cent of their respective official engagements.
TIFA noted the nature and scope of their ministerial portfolios informed engagements by various Cabinet Secretaries.
“This variation in activity levels among these individuals indicates diverse approaches and priorities within their respective roles,” the pollster explained.
TIFA’s findings were based on news reports and 2,700 activities anaylsed across media platforms including official accounts by Cabinet Secretaries.
Overall, TIFA noted 54 per cent of the Cabinet Secretaries’ activities concentrated their activities in Nairobi with a total 1,377 engagements reported in the capital.
Over-focused on Nairobi
The Kenyan-based market research company cited the location of government offices as the possible reason for the concentration of activities in Nairobi.
“This glaring over-focus is conveniently justified by the proximity of their offices in the capital,” TIFA stated.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki emerged as the most travelled member of President William Ruto’s Cabinet in a new report released on Wednesday.
TIFA documented 192 local trips, across 41 counties, out of 2,741 activities assessed in 2023.
The pollster ranked Labour Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore in second place with 183 local trips traversing thirty-six counties.
Kindiki’s 2023 travel featured no foreign travel according to data compiled by TIFA
“There [is] no documented evidence of foreign trips linked to the roles of Kithure Kindiki (Interior) and Ezekiel Machogu (Education) in 2023,” TIFA stated.
The study reported the highest number of travel among Cabinet Secretaries in the third and fourth quarter of the year at 742 and 858 respectively.
TIFA reported 541 and 600 trips respectively in the first and second quarters.
