The Budget and Appropriation Committee chairman, Ndindi Nyoro, on Monday, June 19, reviewed the supplementary estimates for the financial year 2020/2023.
In the latest Budget and Appropriation Committee changes the Ministry of Education was the biggest winner after receiving more than 24 per cent of the allocation.
Part of the Ksh630 billion allocated would be given to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to hire 8,000 government interns deployed to various ministries, departments and agencies. In the programme, the government will offer fresh university graduates a one-year internship with a Ksh25,000 monthly salary.
“We have allocated 27.4 per cent of our budget to education, which is about Ksh630 billion. We made sure that we have capacitated the higher education by doubling the allocation from last year's allocation of 15 billion, and we allocated Ksh30 billion," Ndindi explained.
In addition, Nyoro stated that the government was considering recruiting more Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers.
Nyoro added that the committee pumped more funds into the education sector to eliminate the hitches concerning funds, noting that the sector is one of the most vital for social development.
“We are putting some more money in education because you are our treasury to spend that money and come for ratification later because we didn't want any hitch in regards to the payments of salaries for our JSs teachers. Further, Hon Nyoro stated that ongoing water projects are of a big concern, and the committee has taken a keen interest
“We are also taking on other areas, for example, the ongoing water project, the ongoing other projects of this government so that we make sure as we close the year, there is no hitch and of course, we try to minimize as much as possible the accrual of pending bills as we close this year, and we go to the next financial year," Nyoro stated.
The decision by the Budget and Appropriation Committee was greatly welcomed by Julius Melly, the Departmental Committee on Education chairperson, Julius Melly, who noted that changes in the budget will go a long way in boosting education.
Melly reiterated the importance of the government recruiting at least 20,000 teachers and assuring universities that they will receive double funding through the new model.
“We will be recruiting over 20,000 teachers. We want to construct several TVETs across the country and make sure that the universities have gotten out of their financial doldrums by actually double funding the university through the new funding model,” Melly stated.
The Departmental Committee on Education also recommended the Teachers Service Commission be allocated Ksh6.8 billion for the recurrent expenditure to be reinstated as it affected personal emoluments already committed.
Conversely, the state Department for Vocational and Technical Education will receive Ksh261 million as per the Budget and Appropriation Committee reviews.
At the same time, Early Learning and Basic Education will get a Ksh149.84 million development budget in the directorate of basic education.
According to Nyoro, the exercise would ensure the government expenditure and revenue align to fill the financial gaps identified while Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Njuguna Ndung'u, presented the budget on June 15.
He also revealed that the committee reviewed the budget to close the financial year ending June 30, with realistic revenue figures as required by the law.
“We’re just aligning government expenditure with the revenues that we anticipate that we'll be collecting by the close of the financial year, which is closing in the next few days by June 30.
"So, what we are doing number one is to make sure that we have facilitated the government departments that need facilitation,’’ Nyoro stated.
He added that last week’s budget was crucial and consequential to the current economy, calling on taxpayers to play their role in rebooting the economy.
“That is why I want to say that the budget that we actually did the budget that we passed in the House last week is a very, very consequential budget for our economy very, very far-reaching in our education sector, very strong in infrastructure, and it is a budget that will definitely help our country to move forward in terms of the economy," Nyoro added.
