Puzzle over Sh 44 billion budget for Kenya's military

• MPs and economic experts query Uhuru’s huge allocation to Defence at the expense of crucial ministries such as Agriculture, Housing and Tourism

Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta handed the Defence ministry Sh44 billion in this year’s Budget, the second highest allocation to an individual ministry after Education which received Sh133 billion.

Now the decision has come under severe criticism from politicians and economists, with accusations of misplaced priorities by the minister.
And the move promises to trigger a heated debate in Parliament when MPs start debate on the Budget.

Financial analysts have described the massive outlay to Defence as wasteful and imprudent at a time when the country is struggling to pull out of a dual crisis inflicted by the global economic downturn and last year’s post-election violence.

MPs have promised a showdown in Parliament over the security budget, empowered by new standing orders which require departmental committees to review ministry allocations.

“When you consider the amount given to Tourism, a sector which in 2007 was the country’s top income earner and others such as Agriculture, one has to ask what the nation’s priorities are,” said economist Robert Shaw.

The amount handed to the Defence ministry is 16 times higher than the Sh2.9 billion allocated the ministry of Tourism.

It is nearly four times the Sh11.7 billion given to Agriculture, the country’s most important sector which employs 80 per cent of the population directly or indirectly.

The Defence budget would build a 1,452 km tarmac road and is sufficient to construct 176,000 classrooms.

The amount does not include Sh43.5 billion handed to the Internal Security ministry, which brings the total security budget to a whopping Sh87.5 billion.

Although the national security budget has remained consistently high in recent years, questions have been raised whether the country should continue spending huge amounts on the bureaucracy of the security networks while more productive sectors of the economy have to contend with relatively low allocations.

The Agriculture ministry, for example, saw its share fall from Sh14 billion in the last Budget to Sh11.7 billion.

Agriculture assistant minister Kareke Mbiuki said the amount was not enough to meet the ministry’s ambitious plans to boost productivity and reverse the current situation where Kenya imports substantial amounts of maize, wheat, sugar and rice.

“We had asked for Sh42 billion. The amount we got is not sufficient and we will have to rely on donor funds to make up the shortfall,” he told the Sunday Nation.

The skewed allocations may lay the ground for a confrontation between the Executive and backbenchers when the individual ministry votes come up for debate.

Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara said that while a case could be made that the military needs enhanced allocation due to the uncertain security situation in the region, Parliament would raise a red flag because of the numerous cases of corruption that have dogged the national security budget in the past.