Confront corruption and wastage of public funds

At Sh 1.76 trillion, the 2014/15 Budget is historic by its sheer size and the apparent deliberate effort to directly address prevailing national challenges. “Kenyans have responded to our call for Budget proposals and they have requested us to address through this Budget the issue of insecurity, the high cost of living, joblessness, protecting the vulnerable and wastage in public expenditure across the entire government,” Treasury chief Henry Rotich told us in his Budget speech to the National Assembly last Thursday.

A cursory look does indicate that funds have been targeted at key sectors that deserve keen attention. Education takes the lion’s share at Sh308.6 billion, which crucially includes Sh28.2 billion for free day secondary education, Sh13.5 billion for free primary education, Sh55 billion for university education and Sh 17.4 billion for the eagerly awaited yet controversial laptops for schools project. The allocation also covers Sh 2.3 billion for recruitment of 5,000 new teachers and 5.5 billion for the long disputed teachers’ commuter allowance. Another major vote is the Sh255.9 billion to energy, infrastructure, and ICT, to sustain the momentum of powering growth, digitising operations and easing the movement of people, goods and services. Defence and security gets a total of Sh 154.9 billion (Sh66.2b for police, Sh71.3b for KDF and Sh17.4b for NIS); Agriculture Sh 59.3 billion, which includes Sh 9.5 billion for irrigation projects countrywide; while social protection for the vulnerable, including orphans, the elderly and persons with disabilities get Sh 23.9 billion.