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Heavy investment for security in 2016-17 budget

According to the CS, to modernise the security sector in the country even further, he allocated Sh124 billion to defence and the National Intelligence Service and Sh140 billion to the Interior Ministry/FILE

According to the CS, to modernise the security sector in the country even further, he allocated Sh124 billion to defence and the National Intelligence Service and Sh140 billion to the Interior Ministry/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 8 – The government is set to invest heavily in the security sector, with special focus on improving welfare, mobilisation and modernisation of the security forces in the country, according to 2016-2017 budget estimates released by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.

According to the CS, to modernise the security sector in the country even further, he allocated Sh124 billion to defence and the National Intelligence Service and Sh140 billion to the Interior Ministry.

“The people of Nairobi and Coast may have by now noticed the surveillance cameras installed in strategic points in Nairobi and Mombasa. These security surveillance systems provide real time footage to the National Police Operation Centre, enabling security agencies to monitor and detect crime,” he said.

Rotich said the continued project on street lightings has helped in the drastic drop in cases of crime; a project he says will be launched in all parts of the country.

“We are beginning to reap significant dividends from this sector,” he pointed out.

He said the police command and control centre was already up and running and police training facilities expanded, to allow the recruitment of more officers.

This, he said will help in reducing the police to citizen ration, towards the 1:400 UN accepted standard.

“We have also enhanced connection of integrated population registration system to agencies and launched the e-passport,” he said.

Among the major security projects, Rotich says the government has already signed a bilateral agreement between the government and Shelter Afrique to construct 20,000 police housing units in the first phase within the next two years.

“We are prioritising the provision of decent houses for our discipline forces,” he said adding that already the government was negotiating a finance programme with the African Development Bank.

Construction of the houses is set to kick off in November this year.

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“Once phase one is under way, we expect to concurrently launch additional phases with a view to conclusively addressing the housing gap of police and other discipline forces which is estimated at over 100,000 units currently,” he said.

Rotich further said the government will enhance its supports to all criminal justice agencies fighting graft in the country, in a bid to eliminate the vice that has seen a lot of public resources lost.

“We shall continue strengthening the various institution that are mandated to fighting corruption in the country particularly the EACC, the Department of the Public Prosecutions and the police,” he assured.

He said already major gains were being realised under the multi-agency team that includes the Kenya Police Service Directorate of Criminal Investigations, EACC, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Kenya Revenue Authority, Financial Report Centre and the Asset Recovery Agency.

The CS revealed that the government was working with the United Kingdom “to repatriate about Sh52 million as proceeds of corruption from the Smith and Ouzman case.”

Smith & Ouzman Limited is a printing company based in Eastbourne, incorporated in 1939 and specialises in security documents such as ballot papers, exam certificates and payment vouchers.

Two employees of the UK printing firm have since been convicted for bribing Kenyan elections officials.

The former chairman of Smith and Ouzman, Christopher John Smith, from East Sussex, was convicted of two counts of corruptly agreeing to make payments while the former sales and marketing director Nicholas Charles Smith was convicted of three counts of corruptly agreeing to make payments.

They were convicted at Southwark Crown Court as a result of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into corrupt payments made for the award of business contracts to the company to Kenyan officials.

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The company had done printing works for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the Kenya National Examinations Council.

The company specialises in security documents such as ballot papers and certificates.

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