The National Treasury has proposed a total budget of Sh1.8 trillion for 2015/2016 financial year from Sh1.7trillion in the current financial year/FILE
Speaking ahead of the budget reading, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi indicated that they will be seeking to raise the allocation of basic education from Sh28 billion to 32 billion.
He stated that they will also be pushing for the secondary school allocation to be increased by Sh1 billion.
“We have increased our budget for basic education from Sh28 billion to Sh32billion. Then for the Secondary school allocation, we will be looking for an increase from Sh14 billion to 15 billion. The importance of this is that three years, we will be having free education for all,” he stated.
The education CS stressed that this will ensure that the government’s goal of ensuring free education for all is achieved.
“The child will be enrolled in school at a young age, taught and then develop until they reach the age of 18 years. This is because we want all children to be educated while remaining in school so that they are not married off at an early age,” he said.
The National Treasury has proposed a total budget of Sh1.8 trillion for 2015/2016 financial year from Sh1.7trillion in the current financial year.
According to Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich, Sh283 billion will go to the counties from Sh226 billion in last budget, while Sh1.6trillion is expected to go to the National Government.
The Sh283billion for the counties includes, Sh258billion equitable share, Sh15.billion from conditional grants via the National Government and Sh10.7billion conditional grants from development partners.
The government is hoping to raise revenue of Sh1.2billion from taxes, with Sh1trillion of this going to recurrent expenditure which include paying wages, salaries, pension, interests among others.
Rotich cited various risks that are envisaged in the coming financial year which include public expenditure pressures, impact of security on tourism and depressed rainfall which could affect exports and agricultural production.
Continued weak growth in advanced economies may also negatively impact Kenya’s exports and tourism activities.
The theme of this year’s budget is ‘Enhancing Economic Transformation for a Shared Prosperity’ and reaffirms the broad policies and strategies outlined in the 2015 budget policy statement, under a five-pillar transformation program.
The implementation of this year’s budgetary policies is therefore aimed at raising efficiency and productivity in the economy.
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