By Marline Atieno
In a detailed announcement, the government has released the breakdown of key allocations for the 2024/2025 fiscal year, highlighting its priorities and financial strategies.
While briefing the lawmakers, the Cabinet Secretary emphasized the government’s ambitious strategy that led to the Ksh4 trillion budget allocation for the upcoming fiscal year.
While detailing the government’s plan, the Cabinet Secretary proposed allocating Ksh377 billion to National Security.
“These funds are designated for the National Police Service, Kenya Defence Forces and the National Intelligence Service,” the CS stated.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretary revealed that county governments would receive Ksh400.1 billion as an equitable share, marking the first time in 12 years.
To intensify the fight against corruption, the CS proposed allocating Ksh4.2 billion to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Furthermore, Ksh6.9 billion would be allocated to the State Law Office and Ksh8.7 billion to the Office of the Auditor General.
The education sector remains a top priority, receiving a substantial portion of the budget. The overall allocation for education stands at KSh656.6 billion.
The allocation includes Ksh30 billion for funding Junior Secondary School interns, Ksh36 billion for the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and Ksh3 billion for the school feeding program.
To achieve food security, the government proposed allocating Ksh54 billion to the agricultural sector.
In the breakdown, the Treasury CS indicated that Ksh10 billion would be directed towards fertilizer subsidies and Ksh6 billion to the agricultural value chain.
The government also proposed allocating Ksh23.7 billion to support tourism, sports, culture and recreation.
Healthcare has been allocated KSh127Billion out of which Ksh2 billion would go towards free maternity healthcare.
Ksh 36.6 billion has been allocated towards water and sewerage.
The government is also proposing an extra Ksh5 billion for the Hustlers Fund and an additional Ksh 200 million for the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
Ksh193.4 billion was allocated for road development and Ksh25.2 billion for expanding railway transport.
Additionally, Ksh200 million has been allocated for acquiring ferries for Lake Victoria and Ksh69.7 billion is allocated to the energy sub-sector.