As Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u tables the 2023/24 Budget before Parliament on Thursday, Education is the biggest gainer with an allocation of Ksh. 630 billion.
This is 27.4 per cent of the budget as President William Ruto’s administration seeks to provide accessible and quality education.
Here are the other highlights of the Ksh.3.6 trillion estimate:
The capitation of Junior Secondary Schools has been increased to Ksh.25.5 billion from Ksh.15 billion. At the same time, the Higher Education Loans Board’s allocation has doubled from Ksh.15 billion to Ksh 30 billion.
Some. Ksh 141 billion has been allocated to the National Government health services, with additional funds allocated to counties. Ksh.250 billion meanwhile goes to road construction, prioritizing the completion of stalled and ongoing projects.
Meanwhile, Ksh.5 billion has been allocated to the Fertiliser Subsidy Program, while Ksh.25 billion was allocated to clear arrears for unpaid oil subsidies.
Some Ksh.3 billion was allocated to complete the construction of 181 stalled markets that were initiated in 2008, while Ksh 4.7 billion goes to counties as conditional grants to establish 47 aggregation and industrial parks in each county.
An extra Ksh.3 billion was allocated for 6 Export Processing Zones Industrial Parks in a bid to stimulate job creation, decrease post-harvest losses, enhance processing, marketing, and distribution of agricultural products.
The government has also allocated funds to hire 20,000 teachers and more Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) trainers, as well as the operationalisation of 21 KMTC campuses and hiring additional lecturers and staff.
The Hustler Fund receives an additional Ksh.10 billion to support entrepreneurial endeavours, while the budget also provided funds to double the number of interns employed by the Public Service Commission, from 4,000 to 8,000, each earning a monthly salary of Ksh.25,000.
Some Ksh.5 billion was allocated to the School Feeding Programme.
