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.

“There has to be an element of value for money,” said Mr Imanyara. “The army can argue that they need more because of the situation along our borders. But it is unjustifiable to give Sh42 billion to Internal Security yet all manner of illegal gangs continue to roam the land. That money should have gone towards national reconciliation.”

Security agencies have pointed out that Kenya is located in a “dangerous neighbourhood” with the increasingly unstable situation in Somalia being labelled a particular threat.

A survey of the defence expenditure in the region shows that Uganda, with which Kenya has had a somewhat frosty relationship this year over the Migingo Island dispute, allocated the equivalent of Sh7 billion to the Defence department, according to estimates published in the state-owned New Vision newspaper.

However, that may not be the total sum the nation will spend on the military, analysts say, because of the complex interplay between the presidency (which has a separate and substantial allocation) and the defence department in that country.

Both President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have ruled out a military solution to the conflict and emphasised that a diplomatic way out would be reached.

Rwanda, seen as a fast-rising economic star in the region, channelled Sh6 billion to the army, while a fund set up to boost the nation’s competitiveness received the bulk of the allocation. Figures for the Defence budget in Tanzania were not immediately available.

Department of Defence spokesman Bogita Ongeri on Saturday offered a vigorous defence of the huge allocation to the ministry. He dismissed as unfounded criticism that the amount was excessive because Kenya is not at war.

“If Kenya has never been to war, then Kenyans should thank the ministry of Defence. Deterrence is very important,” he said.

He declined to say what the money would be used for but said DOD had presented a justification for the money as part of the budget-making process, winning the extra Sh4 billion which was added to last year’s Sh40 billion allocation.

He also downplayed fears by anti-corruption lobby groups that the Defence budget is open to misappropriation due to the closed tendering procedures.

Tourism minister Najib Balala said that although allocation to his ministry was “not the best” he appreciated the challenges the Treasury faced.

Being a productive sector, he said, more money needed to be put in tourism “but consumer areas like education and health also needed to be considered”.

Mr Balala praised what he termed a “majimbo (federalism) budget,” adding that defence and security could not be compromised.