The speaker of Kenya's Senate has denied a local newspaper report that he gave the go-ahead to five lawmakers to attend the women’s World Volleyball Championships in Japan.

Ken Lusaka said some senators had wanted to travel to Tokyo but that he did not approve the 14-day tax-payer-funded trip because there was no money, The Star newspaper reports.

The senators were reportedly set to get a daily allowance of 100,000 Kenya shillings ($990; £760) during the trip.

The daily allowance for volleyball players is $37, the Star reports.

The report of the now cancelled trip comes two months after a group of 20 MPs went to Russia in June to watch the football World Cup.

The lawmakers who went to Russia, ostensibly to learn how Kenya could host an event as big as the World Cup, presented a report to parliament in August which the Standard newspaper reported had mostly "been plagiarised without a whiff of attribution".

Kenyan MPs are believed to be among the best paid in the world but last year they got a 15% pay cut reducing their salary to $6,100 a month.

They also lost some of their generous allowances, such as for mileage and attending parliament.

An average person in Kenya lives on $150 a month.