Gov't criticized over cost of luxury vehicles

The Kenyan government spent at least US $12 million in two years on luxury cars for cabinet ministers and other senior government officials, a report said on Monday, questioning such extravagance in a country where many live in extreme poverty.

"Conspicuous consumption makes a mockery of poverty alleviation efforts besides creating resentment in society," said the report released by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Kenya chapter of Transparency International.

"The line between wasteful expenditure and corruption is also very thin and because of this, senior government officials continue to be perceived as corrupt," noted the report, entitled "Living Large - Counting the Cost of Official Extravagance in Kenya".
The money spent on cars between January 2003 and September 2004, it noted, would have been enough to provide antiretroviral therapy (ARV) to 147,000 people infected with HIV/AIDS for one year or see 25,000 children through eight years of primary school.

There are an estimated 270,000 people requiring ARV treatment in Kenya, but only 11,000 currently receive medication.

The $1.1 million spent on luxury vehicles by the high court alone could have built a classroom in each of the country’s 210 parliamentary constituencies, at a cost of $5,400 each, according to the report.

The cars included 57 Mercedes Benz limousines and 52 four-wheel-drive vehicles, including several Range Rovers.

"Clearly, much of the utility derived from these luxury cars is a consequence of their price rather than their substance. The message they [leaders] convey is that they have reached the pinnacle of power, life is good," the report says.

The report gives several recommendations intended to guard against waste of public funds. They include revising government guidelines on the purchase of vehicles, banning the use of public funds to buy luxury cars, and loaning senior government officials money to buy their own vehicles.