State House has clarified the number of government officials that attended the COP28 summit in Dubai following conflicting details on social media.
State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed on Monday said only 51 State officials attended the event.
According to Hussein, the number of Kenyans in attendance was because many were sponsored by non-state actors.
“Non-government entities are facilitating several Kenyans to participate in this COP28. The list of the people that were cleared by the national government is 51,” he said.
Earlier reports indicated that Kenya had at least 763 participants.
Kenya came in 12th place with the most number of delegates after UAE which had 4,409 and Brazil (3,081).
China and Nigeria both had 1,411 participants.
“We have so many other Kenyans from the private sector, non-state actors, county governments and parliament. Is that part of the Presidency? No,” elucidated Hussein on Sunday.
“The President, he noted, was very clear on reducing the numbers and he has done so.”
Digital Strategist Dennis Itumbi also said that the head of state was keen on reducing travel cost hence the reduction of officials attending the COP28.
Itumbi said the president was initially furnished with a list of 189 which was slashed to 51.
“He asked for the list of those travelling with him to Dubai for COP28. He got a list of 189 people. He returned it to the bureaucracy and demanded cuts,” he posted on X.
“It came back as 144. He instructed that the list come down to below 60. Finally, only 51 essential staff travelled from across the government. That was a 73 per cent cut on travel costs.”
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