2022/23 Budget: How key ministries fared

In the 2022/23 national budget, Education, police and military, and transport dockets have gotten some of the biggest allocations.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary UKur Yattani began reading the Sh3.3 trillion budget just minutes after 3 pm. 

He noted that the country’s economy is estimated to stabilize at 6 per cent in 2022 aided by recovery in Agriculture, Industry, and service sectors.

This year’s budget, ordinarily read in June was aimed at accelerating economic recovery for improved livelihoods.

Below is a summary of how key ministries fared.

Security

The security sector has been allocated Sh317.8 billion, to be shared between the National Police Service (NPS), Defence, and National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Defence got Sh128.4 billion while the NIS will get Sh46.4 billion. The police and prison service has been allocated Sh122.2 billion.

Sh10.7 billion will go into leasing police vehicles, Sh1 billion into the police modernization program, while another Sh1 billion will be used for the national communication and surveillance system.

Sh335 million has been set aside for the purchase of pieces of equipment for the newly constructed forensic laboratory at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

NPS and Prisons have been allocated Sh4.8 billion for medical insurance and Sh2.3 billion for group personal insurance.

Education

The Education sector has been allocated a total of Sh544.4 billion.

Of this, Sh12 billion has been set aside for Free Primary education and Sh2.5 billion will be used to recruit teachers.

Sh64.4 billion will cater for the free day secondary school education while Sh5 billion exams waiver for grade six, class eight, and form four students.

Sh7.96 billion will cater to the school feeding program, Sh1.2 billion for the training of teachers on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), and Sh310 million for the digital literacy program and ICT integration in secondary schools.

Sh4 billion will support the government’s plan to construct more classrooms.

Sh294.7 billion has been allocated to the Teachers Service Commission while Sh91.2 billion goes to University Education and Sh15.8 billion to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).

Another Sh6.8 billion has been allocated to the Kenya Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project and Sh5.2 billion capitation for TVET students.

Health

The Ministry of Health has been allocated a sum total of Sh146.8 billion.

Sh62.3 billion will support Universal Health Coverage (UHC), with Sh7 billion going into the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines and related expenditures.

Sh4.1 billion will be disbursed to cater to the free maternity health care program also known as Linda Mama Initiative and Sh5.2 billion for Managed Equipment Service (MES).

In a bid to lower the cases of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, Sh16.2 billion has been allocated and a further Sh5.2 billion to enhance the vaccines and immunizations program.

Kenyatta National Hospital will get some Sh18.1 billion, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to get Sh11.7 billion, Sh7.7 billion to the Kenya Medical Training College and Sh2.9 billion to the Kenya Medical Research Institute, aimed at improving health services.

Also factored in the budget is Sh1.3 billion that will aid the construction of a Cancer Centre at the Kisii Level Five hospital.

Transport

Transport Ministry was allocated Sh212.5 billion to aid infrastructure projects in the country and the construction of footbridges.  

The Bus Rapid Transport System (BRT) has been allocated Sh1.2 billion. For the further development of the Standard Gauge Railway Sh18.5 billion has been allocated. Sh439 million will go into the rehabilitation of locomotives and Sh264 million used for the development of the Energy Resource Planning (ERP) system for SGR.

Election Preparedness

In order to facilitate this year’s General Elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has been allocated Sh21.7 billion in addition to Sh22.9 billion allocated last year.

IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati last year said that the commission needed an allocation of at least Sh40.9 billion to conduct the polls.