Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday signed into law the Supplementary Appropriations Bill that slashes the government’s expenditure by 145.7 billion shillings (about 1.12 billion U.S. dollars).....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The new bill, which the National Assembly passed on July 31 after the president’s withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024 over anti-government protests, safeguards key critical expenditures, including about 154 million dollars to support farmers and enhance production and productivity.
“The total reduction for the National Government stands at 1.12 billion dollars, consisting of 308 million dollars for recurrent expenditure and 808 million dollars in development expenditure,” the presidency said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
To support education reforms, the new law has allocated 928.6 million dollars, including confirmation of school teachers, and 238.5 million dollars to the Higher Education Loans Board. The law also has allocated 124.6 million dollars to funding health sector reforms and promoting Universal Health Coverage.
It also sets aside 27 million dollars for salary increases for security officers serving in various agencies. It proposes reducing recurrent and development expenditure for the three arms of government, constitutional commissions, and independent offices. On June 26, the president withdrew the contentious Finance Bill 2024 which had caused public fury over a wide range of unpopular tax increases.
The withdrawn Finance Bill 2024, which sparked youth protests that led to its withdrawal from the National Assembly by the president, was seeking to raise an additional 2.7 billion dollars through new taxes.
The protesters had expressed outrage over provisions of the bill that would raise taxes on goods and services that many people depend on, such as bread, and mobile money transfers, to meet the government’s revenue targets.
The Gen-Z protesters had also been demanding accountability in government, saying there is a lot of opulence and wastage in government spending...CONTINUE READING>>
