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State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed responded to concerns that the government sent a delegation of 765 Kenyans to the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly called COP28 in Dubai.
On Sunday, December 3, Mohamed said that the list shared by the UN comprised all Kenyans who registered for the conference which did not necessarily mean that was the government delegation.
He explained that the presidency had only cleared about 51 people to accompany President William Ruto and other national government officials.
“Registration doesn’t mean the people who came. Nonetheless, non-government entities facilitated several Kenyans to participate in COP 28 including the private sector,” he said.
Hussein added that climate change impacts every sector of the economy; lifestyle, agriculture, gender, water, energy and many more areas, hence the private sector's interest.
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The State House spokesperson said he could not speak for attendees who were not part of the executive office of the president, throwing other government officials whose names appeared on the UN list under the bus.
“The list of people cleared by the National Government is 51. We have so many other Kenyans from the private sector, non-state actors, county governments, Parliament, and Judiciary. Is that part of the presidency? Is that part of the executive? No," Hussein explained.
He added that the president was very clear in terms of reducing the numbers and allowances paid to state officers during foreign trips.
“Is the president going to talk about county governments and trying to stop them from attending these functions? Is he going to talk to Parliament and tell them not to attend?
“I am sure when institutions are sending people here they also have their agenda but I can’t speak for them, I speak for the presidency,” Hussein said.
He welcomed other institutions to follow President Ruto's example in implementing austerity measures.
The spokesperson also urged journalists covering the event to establish who is paying for the different attendees at the event.
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The government announced that seven deals worth $4.4 billion were signed at COP28;
- $1.5B green fertilizer project with Fortescue Future Industries
- $1B geothermal project at Suswa with the Indonesian government
- $800M deal between AMEA Power of the UAE & Geothermal Development of Kenya to invest in the 200MW Paka Geothermal Project
- $600M data center at Olkaria powered by green geothermal energy in partnership with EcoCloud
- $270M, United Green & Kenya Development to implement a sustainable agricultural project on 15k hectares in the Lake Basin region
- $200M Clean Energy Supply Chain initiative
- $110M geothermal project for 35MW with Globeleq and Menengai