During a recent review of external taxi services, a material level of non-work related use was found to have been incurred by staff who have now been required to reimburse such costs back to ILRI.

We therefore wish to remind all staff that they are required to fully comply with ILRI’s existing transport policy, which is attached herewith for reference. In addition, please note:

1. The use should be strictly work related. It should be noted that movement to the workplace from the place of residence is personal and the organization does not cater for that, apart from the bus transport on the designated routes.

2. Staff are advised to consult transport unit whenever there is need for long distance travel so that an assessment can be done on the best mode of transport, between own vehicles and hiring a taxi.

3. Taxis should only be used for conducting ILRI business and under no circumstances they should be used for suppliers, consultants, friends or relatives. Any special circumstances need to be pre- authorized by the appropriate manager.

4. Use of taxis from the workplace to staff residence is only allowed when the staff are working beyond 8.00 PM in the evening. Supervisors are expected to be aware of the staff who are working late or under any other exceptional circumstances therefore requests for taxi for this purpose need to copied to the supervisors and ILRI Kenya transport services.

5. Use of taxis from residence to work place is allowed only under exceptional circumstances under which the supervisors are expected to be aware. The requests for such need to be copied to the supervisors. This may include but not limited to movements at odd hours, movement with ILRI documents, laptops, and when staff are not in a position to use public transport or other means to work. It is expected that such requests cannot be on a daily basis.

Staff are advised to strictly observe the guidelines and have the taxi costs charged to personal accounts when the use is outside ILRI business.

M van Weerdenburg