Treasury diverts billions to justice fund

The National Treasury has set aside Sh1 billion of the Cabinet's budget for a special fund for victims of historical injustices and post-election violence.

The fund set up by President Uhuru Kenyatta to help victims of the 2007/08 post-election violence is expected to grow to Sh10 billion over the next three years.

Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury Henry Rotich also noted that part of the Sh3.4 billion increase in the budget for the Ministry of Devolution will also go towards the National Fund for Restorative Justice.

In a document showing the details of the next budget for the 2015/2016 financial year, the Cabinet secretary noted that the money had been taken from the Transport docket that is handling the building of a new terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

"The increase (in the Presidency and Devolution budgets) reflects transfer from Transport (Green Field Project) to create National Fund for Restorative Justice," said Rotich in the brief that is before the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly.

There's no explanation, however, why the money was being diverted from the flagship Sh55 billion airport project launched in December 2013.

State House has been pushing for the restorative justice fund, especially after the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said he had "challenges obtaining successful prosecutions."

"These challenges range from inadequate evidence, inability to identify perpetrators, witnesses' fear of reprisals and the general lack of technical and forensic capacity at the time," Tobiko said in PEV status report.