Govt told to close irrelevant embassies

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs has recommended that government should do away with some embassies irrelevant to the economic and political development of the country to cut down on the ministry's budgetary costs.

Committee chair Enock Porusingazi said the committee wanted a leaner foreign service as opposed to the 47 representative offices across the world.

Porusingazi was speaking while presenting a post-budget report by the committee in the National Assembly where the committee disclosed that the ministry was saddled with a $13 million debt.

The country has 40 embassies and 5 consulates.