Kenya’s gross public debt has increased by over Sh488.1 billion since the Kenya Kwanza administration took office, raising the total debt owed to both domestic and foreign lenders to about Sh9.6 trillion. New data by the National Treasury, shows that as of March 30, 2023, the country had already increased its borrowing, as the new administration sought to meet its obligations in running the government. The new figures now means that the country’s total debt is about 66% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in nominal terms, compared to Sh9.1 trillion at 67% of GDP as of the end of…
Author: Silas Apollo
Kenya and the United Kingdom have once again delivered on commitments made at COP27 to combat climate change, create jobs and generate affordable power for Kenyans. This is after a ground-breaking took place at Menengai Geothermal Power Plant, one of the six green investment projects – worth Sh500 billion – that were fast-tracked by President William Ruto and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the COP27 climate summit. The project will be led by Globeleq, a UK company backed by British International Investment. The geothermal plant is expected to generate 35MW of electricity, providing 750,000 Kenyans with affordable, clean energy.…
Countries within the East African Community have been asked to abolish Non-Tariff Barriers to allow the free movement of goods and services across their borders to facilitate trade. The National Assembly’s Committee on Regional Integration has said that the failure by the seven-member states that make up EAC to abolish the tariffs 16 years after the implementation of the Customs Union was affecting trade. The committee chairperson, Wanjiku Muhia, said that traders within the EAC bloc had registered serious frustrations over the tariff barriers. She was speaking after a visit by the Committee to the Semi-Autonomous institutions of the East Africa…
A new audit report on the Judiciary has revealed new details of misuse of public funds by staff members, with other officials also said to have stolen funds meant to run the courts. The report by the Office of the Auditor-General for the last financial year shows that the Judiciary failed to follow the law in utilizing funds it had received from the National Treasury, leading to losses running into millions of shillings. The courts are also accused of failing to report cases of theft by some of its staff members or even the strategies it used to recover the…
The National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee is this week expected to table its report on the 2023/24 Financial Year budget for debate in Parliament, ahead of next week’s reading of the budget statement by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u. The committee chairman Ndindi Nyoro, said that his team had finalized the process of scrutinizing the budget estimates tabled by Prof Ndung’u, pending debate on the floor of the House. Mr Nyoro, who is also the Kiharu MP, added that his committee, during its sittings, discussed and adopted the 2023/24 Budget Estimates report of Expenditure and Revenue. The MP said…
President William Ruto has defended his plans to build affordable housing in the country as part of the government’s commitment towards addressing the challenges of urbanization. The Head of State, while speaking to delegates during the official opening of the UN-Habitat conference in Nairobi, said that many cities around the world, including in Kenya, were experiencing an influx of residents, despite limited resources to support the growing population. The President argued that the result of this growth, had been many urban areas becoming centres of inequality, sometimes pitting the poor against the rich while also pushing those at the bottom of…
Kenyans, including in public service, have strongly opposed the government’s new tax proposals that seek to boost revenue collection and cut public borrowing. Kenyans submitting their views on the disputed Finance Revenue Bill, 2023, have been challenged to provide alternative revenue sources for the government to help deal with the revenue shortfalls in the country. The National Assembly’s Committee on Finance and National Planning asked those appearing before the Committee to present their grievances over proposals in the Bill to also give alternatives to the country’s financial constraints. Kenyans and other stakeholders from various sectors in the country have been…
The country’s current budget estimate is Sh3.6 trillion, which comprises Sh2.2 trillion allocated to the national government, Sh986.1 billion for the Consolidated Fund Services, and Sh385 billion for the counties Legislators have commenced the process of assessing the national budget for the 2023/24 Financial Year as the House begins scrutinizing proposed programs and projects from various state departments and agencies. This process aligns with the provisions of Article 221 of the Constitution of Kenya, which mandates the submission of budget estimates to the National Assembly. The recently tabled budget estimates, consisting of revenue and expenditure projections for the national government,…
Surgical soundtrack Surgical teams now have a new tool to help them improve accuracy and efficiency in the operating room with Lifesaving Radio, the world’s first artificial-intelligence-powered healthcare radio station. The new technology from NextMed Health, features over 30 hours of music clinically suited for peak surgical performance. Surgical teams can receive custom-curated operating room playlists and personalized shout-outs and commentary from DJ AI Angus simply by entering their names, hospital/facility, and procedure at LifesavingRadio.com and then signing into their Spotify Premium account. Recent clinical research found that listening to music from world-renowned rock band AC/DC can help surgical teams…
The demand for affordable rental properties in satellite towns has impacted the overall returns, with apartments recording average rental returns of 3.4 % over the quarter and 9 % annually. Satellite towns around Nairobi and in other parts of the country are becoming the preferred destinations for most Kenyans, with rental and property prices increasing in the last four months of 2023. This is according to a report by real estate firm HassConsult which shows that in the first quarter of 2023, rental income for most property owners in estates outside of Nairobi and other urban areas experienced a sharp…