Nairobi, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday opened the Eleventh
Parliament and outlined the legislative agenda of his government.
President Uhuru Kenyatta
In his speech to the joint session of the Senate and Parliament, the
President said he will form a lean cabinet and streamline agencies to
eliminate overlap of duties.
His statement came hot on the heels of spirited campaigns by a section
of MPs tohave their pay upped. To this endUhuru decried Kenya’s huge
wage bill which stands at Sh458 billion equal to half revenue government
collects annually and said it must be reduced.
President Uhuru warned: “In the current financial year for example the
total estimated wage bill is Kshs 458 billion. This wage bill
at slightly over 12% of our GDP, is well above the internationally
accepted standard of 7% and accounts for almost half of the revenue
collected by Government. This is unsustainable and poses a serious
threat to the funding of important development projects, and has the
potential to severely affect the country¡¦s economic prospects.”
It remains to be seen how MPs will react to his proposals over the four
days when they begin debate on his speech. A section of MPs have since
vowed to stall government legislative agenda if their pay is not hiked.
He argued: “All arms of Government must set the example and lead the way
in bringing this wage bill down. Our focus both as the executive and
the legislature must be on reducing the cost of living and making Kenya
much more
competitive thereby increasing opportunities while improving the
standard of living. Indeed, that shall be the centrepiece of our
Government.”
He said he will act swiftly to end corruption that is entrenched in many institutions.
He outlined a nine-pillar national agenda based on among others
transparency in public service, job creation, education, security,
improved infrastructure and devolved government.
He said his government’s legislative agenda will include presenting to
the House bills and legislations, top on the list being implementation
of the Constitution.
He said security was paramount adding in the agenda was to increase the
number of police officers, equip various units as well as improve their
welfare.
On Education, President Uhuru said pupils joining class one next year
will get laptops and higher learning institution in Counties will be
increased to avoid middle level colleges from being converted into
universities.
Job creation was also on the Head of State agenda and he said the women
and youth enterprise fund will be harmonized to ensure they are
accessible at constituency level.
He said there was need to spark industrial revolution and ensure value addition to products.
“There is need to open one million acres of land to irrigation,” he said on fighting food insecurity.
Source: in2eastafrica.net
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