By Peter Ochieng
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) Professor Njuguna Ndung’u will this afternoon present to the National Assembly, the Sh4 trillion budget, for the 2024/2025 financial year.
The budget, the biggest in history, will be the second under President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration.
The draft budget shows that the national government could get Sh2.2 trillion shillings, the consolidated fund services that are mainly used for servicing debts will get Sh1.2 trillion while counties will share out Sh400 billion, up from Sh391 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.
According to the draft budget, projected revenue collection has been capped at Sh3.3 trillion with the difference bridged by borrowing.
Education is expected to get the lion’s share of the budget at about Sh700 billion, national security Sh373.5 billion, roads Sh178 billion while the health sector has been allocated Sh128.7 billion.
The budget reading comes on the backdrop of members of the departmental committee on finance and national planning, having questioned government agencies on the rationale of a raft of proposals contained in the Finance Bill, 2024, and how they would impact on the economy if enacted.
The Committee which wrapped up public participation on the Bill this week, noted that concerns had been raised by various stakeholders and members of the public who had appeared before them during the two-week long exercise.
During a meeting with the Principal Secretary (PS) in charge of the State Department for Environment and Climate Change Festus Ng’eno, the legislators noted that the public had sought the justification for the imposition of the proposed Eco-levy, given its projected impact on the manufacturing sector.
PS Ng’eno submitted that the introduction of the levy is part of the series of initiatives being undertaken by countries, in acknowledgment of the scale of spread of problematic waste streams in recent decades.
While drawing examples of some of the counties that have successfully implemented some form of Environmental Levy such as Barbados, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Jamaica, Guyana, Ghana and Bahamas, he sought the Committee’s support for the imposition of the levy.
“Hon. Members, the revenue generated from the levy is earmarked for such initiatives as putting up enhanced waste management systems, creating public awareness and education through nationwide campaigns, to support innovation and enhanced research and development in green technologies,” explained the PS.
Committee Members David Mboni (Kitui Rural), Julius Rutto (Kesses) and Joseph Munyoro (Kigumo) however raised concerns that without ring-fencing the fund, the envisaged initiatives would fail due to delays in funds’ disbursement.