Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich outside Treasury Building before he left to present the 2018-2019 Budget in Parliament yesterday. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The Government of Kenya plans to spend Sh142 billion towards national security in the 2018/2019 financial year.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said national security is a major pillar of economic stability that can as well attract investors in the country.

“Recognizing the importance of security as an enabler for the achievement of our development goals, the Government has continued to implement reforms targeted at supporting our security forces and guaranteeing Kenyans safety,” said Rotich.

Rotich said out of the Sh142.3 billion, Sh9.2b will be for leasing police vehicles, Sh9 billion for enhanced security operations and Sh29.8 billion for police and military modernisation.

He said Sh3.0 billion will be for border security, Sh6.5 billion for police and prison officers’ medical insurance scheme and Group Life Insurance for police.

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Kenya has been giving the security sector first priority while preparing national budgets to ensure the sector is well funded.

Since 2011, Kenya’s allocation for security has been increasing steadily at between 10 and 11 per cent of expenditure.

In the 2010/2011 national budget of Sh998.9 billion, Sh104.6b was allocated to the security sector. The amount was increased to Sh125.8b in the 2011/2012 financial year with a national budget of Sh1.158 trillion budget.

The National Treasury in the 2016/2017 financial year allocated Sh124 billion for the Department of Defence and National Intelligence Service while Sh140 billion was given to the Interior Ministry.

In February this year, the High Court allowed the Auditor General to audit billions of shillings annually allocated to Kenya’s military and other national security organs.

At the same time, Rotich has downplayed the magnitude of Kenya's rising debt burden despite growing concerns among Kenyans at home and abroad. Central Bank of Kenya, the custodian of Kenya’s debt data, has failed to update the level of debt on its website over the last two months in what is seen as an attempt to veil the level of debt, which has officially crossed the Sh5 trillion mark.

Thursday, the CS appeared to brush off the magnitude of the country's debt crisis, instead saying the Government plans to slow down on borrowing through lower budget gaps, salary reviews and managing new public development projects through a new unit at Treasury.