Economy

Teachers, civil servants and injustice fund win in revised Sh2trn Budget

ROTICH

Treasury secretary Henry Rotich. He has revised the Sh2.17 trillion Budget to create new funds for strengthening national security, increasing teachers and civil servants’ hardship allowances as well as dealing with historical injustices and marginalised people. PHOTO | FILE

Treasury secretary Henry Rotich has revised the Sh2.17 trillion Budget to create new funds for strengthening national security, increasing teachers and civil servants’ hardship allowances as well as dealing with historical injustices and marginalised people.

Estimates tabled in Parliament Thursday indicate that Mr Rotich has increased the development expenditure by Sh36.3 billion to Sh329 billion and recurrent spending by Sh13.7 billion to Sh681.4 billion in the initial budget set by Parliament.

Hardship and house allowances paid to teachers and civil servants will take an additional Sh15.4 billion, restorative justice (Sh6.1 billion), security modernisation (Sh11.3 billion) and the marginalised fund (Sh11.3 billion).

The estimates show that austerity measures were taken against various ministries, commissions and independent offices.

Higher spending on security comes against a backdrop of persistent deadly terrorist attacks which have claimed more than 400 lives since President Uhuru Kenyatta took over leadership two years ago.

The Teachers Service Commission will get Sh10 billion to go into hardship and housing allowances for teachers.

Increased allocation will also go into the National Fund for Restorative Justice, under the Presidency, as promised by Mr Kenyatta in a speech to Parliament recently.

Mr Kenyatta has ordered the establishment of a Sh10 billion fund to assist victims of the 2007/2008 post-election violence and those affected by historical injustices.

He said the fund, to be set up in the next three years, will help the victims to resettle, reconcile and rebuild their lives.

The Education ministry had its development allotment cut by Sh5.4 billion, the Department of Transport Sh2 billion and the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development Sh414 million.

The Treasury had its Budget cut by Sh8 billion, which reflects lower spending on wages in the coming financial year.

The estimates did not clarify whether this had to do with lower staff numbers or had to do with allowances.

Adjusted downwards

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had its development budget cut by half  to Sh300 million because it is yet to find premises, but it was indicated that the money would be provided for once such premises are identified.

The Gender and Equality Commission had its recurrent budget adjusted downwards by Sh11 million as part of the austerity measures.

The expenditure plan reveals the rising cost of the ongoing strengthening of national security apparatus which involves recruitment of at least 10,000 policemen this year.

The national security share of the budget will rise to 8.2 per cent or Sh114.07 billion from the current 7.7 per cent (Sh90.72 billion).

The increased spending on security comes against a backdrop of persistent terrorist attacks which have claimed over 400 lives in the past two years.

“The interventions specifically target modernisation of the military and the police to give them adequate capabilities to deal with and vanquish security threats arising from terrorism,” said a Cabinet briefing released recently.

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Overall, the energy, infrastructure and ICT sectors will for the first time overtake education in spending having been allocated 27.3 per cent of the budget compared to 21.7 per cent in the current fiscal year.

This means that a total of Sh385.41 billion has been earmarked for the sector, up from Sh256.81 billion in the current financial year, or a 50.08 per cent increase.

The money is expected to go into ongoing mega infrastructure projects such as construction of the standard gauge railway and improvement of the road network which the Jubilee administration has prioritised.

Increased spending on infrastructure and security in the coming year has, however, left other key sectors such as agriculture, health, education, social protection, environment, commercial affairs, public administration and governance with less money as a proportion of total spending.

The more than Sh400 billion budget expansion means the government will intensify its revenue raising efforts.