Cabinet approves climate action, bank privatization and agricultural projects

President William Ruto with Cabinet members at State House, Nairobi. [PCU]

President William Ruto chaired a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi, on Wednesday, where he ratified a treaty on climate action and approved several projects to boost the economy and social welfare.

The treaty, known as the Financing Locally-led Climate Action Programme, aims to foster low-carbon and climate-resilient development in Kenya.

The Cabinet also gave the green light to the privatisation of the Development Bank of Kenya, which will operate as a commercial bank under the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).

To support the coffee sub-sector, the Cabinet endorsed a framework to provide subsidised government fertiliser and faster payments to farmers through the Coffee Cherry Advance Fund.

The move is expected to benefit millions of farmers in 33 coffee-growing counties.

Another project that got the Cabinet's approval was the Kenya Agricultural Business Development Project (KABDP), which will support 29 agricultural value chains, including crops, livestock, and fisheries. The project aims to improve incomes, food and nutrition security, entrepreneurial skills, market access, and agricultural sector coordination in all 47 counties.

The Cabinet also approved the implementation of the Nairobi Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Establishment and Junction Improvement Project, which will transform traffic management in Kenya by eliminating human interference in traffic control and streamlining the payment of penalties for traffic offences.

The Cabinet commended the Ministry of Sports for its efforts to protect athletes and urged the public to follow traffic laws for road safety. It expressed its condolences to the family of Marathon World Record Holder Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a road accident on Sunday, and promised to support them in giving him a fitting farewell.

The Cabinet announced that it will go for the Annual Retreat of the National Executive early next week, where it will evaluate the performance of all ministries and state offices and set the priorities for the year 2024 that will be reflected in the Ministerial Performance Contracts.

The retreat will be preceded by a Ministerial Performance Review (Roadshow) led by the Ministry of Public Service, Performance & Delivery Management in collaboration with the Cabinet Office.

At the same time, the Cabinet approved the digitisation of the entire education system, from basic education to tertiary and university levels. This intervention aims to address the governance challenges within the education system.