Government focused on completing ongoing projects
By Christine Muchira
Cabinet has resolved that no new projects would be started within the next financial year, with the focus, remaining on completion of projects and programs already underway.
To ensure this is achieved, the Cabinet settled on a 1.7 trillion budget for 2016/2017 financial year.
Esipisu said Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich will submit the budget estimates to Parliament by April 28 to allow Cabinet Secretaries to explain their proposals at Parliamentary committees.
Speaking after a two day retreat in Naivasha, Statehouse spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said that the Cabinet will fast track and ensure all priority projects including the Standard Gauge Railway reaches Nairobi by June next year.
“The President was very clear that no new projects will be started within the next financial year, with the focus remaining on completion of projects and programmes already underway,” said Esipisu.
He noted that the Cabinet will put substantial money into education, so that the Administration can meet the President’s vision of raising the transition rate to secondary from primary school to 100 per cent.
“The challenge is complex as we need to build thousands of new classrooms and we will then need to put money into making day secondary schools entirely free,” he said.
He said that the controversial laptop project was back on course adding that the programme had kicked off in 150 pilot schools.
“The government is committed to making sure that all primary schools have laptops and this will be achieved within the next twelve months,” noted Esipisu.
Days after the Council of Governors hit at Central government over the Sh38B managed equipment services programme, Manoah said that the project would continue.
He said that seven hospitals of the 98 targeted have been fully refurbished and equipped, while dozens others would be equipped in the next 12 months.
On the coming general elections, Manoah said that the cabinet had resolved to support and strengthen various IEBC programme.
“The Cabinet will fund a number of IEBC programmes to make sure that the elections go off without any hitch,” he said.
Statehouse spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said, “Government will continue with the ambitious managed medical equipment services programme. As you know, seven hospitals of the 98 targeted have been fully refurbished and equipped, while dozens others are in various stages of completion. All will be equipped in the next 12 months.’’
Manoah said that the government was committed to binding and healing the country after the collapse of the ICC cases.
To this end, he noted that there were no more IDPs in camps adding that the government was keen to compensate all the integrated IDPs who were affected by the PEV.
“Cabinet appreciates that it is time to end the long nightmare of suffering that our brothers and sisters have endured,”
He added that the President would over the weekend make a brief visit to Uganda to attend the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Projects (NCIP) summit.
“In ICT the Administration is working to ensure that the digital learning programme is completed to fulfill a promise first made in Jubilee campaign manifesto,” he said.
During the retreat, the Cabinet was split into five clusters starting with security which would be chaired by the President and deputized by Defense CS Amb. Raychelle Omamo.
Other clusters are Productive and Infrastructure sectors chaired by CS Najib Balala and Agricultural Transformation and Environment Protection, chaired by CS Willy Bett.
Human Capital Development will be headed CS Dr Fred Matiang’i while the Governance and Public Administration cluster will be chaired by AG Professor Githu Muigai.
It was also agreed that the cabinet would henceforth meet twice a month to review the progress and goals achieved.
