NYS and Judiciary hit by budget cuts

The Supreme Court building in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The National Intelligence Service’s budget has been increased to Sh32.7 billion, from the current Sh22 billion.
  • The Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission has been allocated Sh3.9 billion
  • Parliament has been allocated Sh46 billion.
  • The funds slashed from the the NYS budget is expected to go towards boosting youth programmes across the country.

The National Youth Service, pensions department at the National Treasury and the Judiciary are some of the State agencies that have been hit hard by reductions in the budgetary allocations for the next financial year.

The Education Ministry and Kenya Revenue Authority have also suffered as their proposed budgets for 2018/19 financial year have been slashed in the Sh3.07 trillion estimates tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

However, the National Intelligence Service’s budget has been increased to Sh32.7 billion, from the current Sh22 billion.

The Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission has been allocated Sh3.9 billion despite a plot by MPs to disband it over failure to prosecute corruption suspects.

SENATE AFFAIRS

A similar amount has been allocated to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions while the Attorney-General’s got half the amount.  

At the same time, Parliament has been allocated Sh46 billion to finance Senate affairs (Sh6.4 billion), National Assembly (Sh21.9 billion), general administration, planning and support services (Sh6.1 billion) and Parliamentary Service Commission (Sh12.5 billion).

According to the budget estimates by the committee chaired by Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa, the Sh22 billion, which had been allocated to the NYS, has been slashed by Sh8.25 billion.

The funds slashed from the the NYS budget is expected to go towards boosting youth programmes across the country.

The move to reduce the agency’s budget is also seen as a protest by the MPs following the Sh9 billion scandal that has hit the NYS, with several of its top officers charged over corruption.

FEEDING PROGRAMME

Meanwhile, Sh2.5 billion has been slashed from the Judiciary’s allocation of Sh17 billion, which is the same amount that was allocated in the current financial year.

The MPs also deducted Sh300 million from the school feeding programme in the Ministry of Education’s early learning and basic education department.

The lawmakers also deducted Sh560 million earmarked for secondary school infrastructure programme to finance security operations.

However, Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba questioned the reduction, even as he argued that no funds had been allocated for teacher hiring.

The MPs have three days to debate and adopt the estimates as presented by the Budget and Appropriations Committee.