Kenyan government sets aside Sh12b for arid counties

The Government has set aside Sh12 billion in the next financial year for initiating projects in marginalised areas.

The money will be used to among other things build new roads and hospitals, and provide clean tap water and electricity in 14 marginalised counties.

The money will not be channelled through the governors or the Constituency Development Fund accounts but through the national government structures.

This will be President Uhuru Kenyatta’s direct development link to the people ahead of 2017 elections.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said the decision by the Government to isolate the governors and MPs was deliberate as the two groups have been taking credit for national government initiated projects.

“The Government has opted to channel the money through the national structures in the marginalised counties,” said Mr Rotich in documents to the National Assembly.

Unlock Red Tape

Though he met all the leaders from the marginalised communities a month ago where he promised the money and the projects, Uhuru is keen not to have the 14 governors and at least 59 MPs take credit for the projects.

The release of the money follows a decision by the National Treasury to unlock a ‘five-year-old bureaucratic red-tape’ that had blocked the release of the money under the Equalisation Fund.

The fund is a special kitty to raise the living standards of people in marginalised areas “to the level generally enjoyed by the rest of the nation”.

The fund, by now, ought to have Sh20 billion but the Government argues that national revenues have not been good, and the much it can afford after five years is Sh12.4 billion.

The marginalisation policy identified 14 counties as marginalised– meaning very little national revenue was invested in infrastructure and the people.