The 2015 Budget

The 2015 Budget

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The long awaited Kenya’s 2014/2015 budget worth Ksh 1.8 trillion was finally released yesterday. Many sectors hoped that the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich would allocate them enough share for the next one financial year.

Starting with Kenya’s transport sector which has been experiencing high growth lately with new highways, railways, airports being set up, we learn that this is one of the sectors which has received massive allocation of money.

In Kenya’s 2014/2015 budget, Cabinet Secretary Rotich allocated the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Ksh 22.9 billion which will be raised through the Railway Development Levy (RDL). The SGR project, which will cost Ksh 327 billion, is set to finish in 2017. The railway is one of the flagship projects under the Vision 2030 national development strategy and will be part of the bigger 2,937 km railway line which will connect Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Nairobi traffic is expected to ease following the allocation of Ksh 1.0 billion towards decongestion of road junctions in the city. The government has also located Ksh 1.0 billion for the new roads it plans to construct under the year 2014/2015.
There are also underway plans to finance the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) commuter rail which will hasten movement of passengers to and from the airport. The Treasury allocated Ksh 1.65 billion for the ongoing upgrade of Kisumu and Isiolo Airports and construction of 3 new Airports in Mandera, Malindi and Suneka.

The country’s education sector has been the main flagship project of the government. The State has been in the fore front of providing access to educational facilities to citizens. In this year’s budget, CS Rotich has increased allocation for free tuition in secondary schools by 33 percent to Ksh 28.2 billion. The free primary education has also been allocated Ksh 13.5 billion, an increase of 33 percent.

The government has also set aside Ksh 2.3 billion for the school feeding programme and Ksh 400 million for sanitary towels. Due to the increase of new enrolments in schools every year, the Treasury will use Ksh 0.6 billion for upgrading of National schools that started under the economic stimulus projects and Ksh 2.3 billon for recruitment of 5000 additional teachers. Ksh 2.0 billion and Ksh 5.5 billion will be used for the promotion of teachers and implementation of the second phase of commuter allowance.

Digital education has been considered in CS Rotish’s budget with Ksh 17.4 billion set aside for e-learning, including laptops for children, building capacity of teachers and setting up computer laboratory for class 4 to 8 in all schools across the country.

Reference : awakeafrica.org

 
 

 

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