Monitoring plan launched for stimulus package

By FREDRICK OBURA

The Government has launched a monitoring system to speed up implementation of projects funded under the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP).

The ESP website launched yesterday would help people monitor, and react to projects undertaken by various leaders in real time.

"We have put a lot of hope and investment in the Economic Stimulus Programme, its total implementation would help alleviate poverty and empower the youth economically at the local level," said Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

REAL TIME COMMUNICATION

"The system we have launched would create transparency as it would simultaneously diffuse the stimulus information, offer feedback and provide interactive forum between the Government and stakeholders," he said.

The website is linked to Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, growing social media tools with large number of users in the country.

Uhuru said the tools would enable the Government access real time communication; feedback and interface with national and global stakeholders keen on tracking development initiatives at the micro and national level.

"We expect the online portal to increase citizen interest, participation, and ownership in local development projects, and propel local community commitment and a sense of voluntarism in seeing the targeted projects through to completion," he said.

By launching the online monitoring system, the Government would be cashing in on the wider penetration of Internet in the country to mobilise people’s participation in projects under the Economic Stimulus Programme.

In the year 2009/10 budget, the government launched ESP in reaction to the effects of the global economic downturn.

The programme focusing on key areas like education, public health, fish farming, food, water and irrigation were premised on the need to urgently overcome challenges such as shrinking demand for exports and decline of remittances from Kenyans abroad.

The minister said ESP has proved effective as it has played its part in stimulating economic growth, creating employment and spurring entrepreneurship and innovation.

"The ESP has played a significant role, amongst other interventions, in contributing to the return of our economy to a sustainable GDP path with an annual growth in 2011 now expected to hit between five and six per cent," he said.

Last year, the Government stated that the country will probably need a second economic stimulus package in its 2010-11 budget to help sustain growth and boost living standards for the poor.

"There is good cause for us to continue with this program into next year," Uhuru said. The country’s first Sh23 billion ($304 million) spending programme, enacted during the last fiscal year, has played a key role in boosting growth.