Is Sh300 million too much for President Uhuru Kenyatta's second coronation?
This was the big question on Friday after head of public service Joseph Kinyua confirmed the figure and assured there would be no wastage.
The ceremony will take place at Kasarani stadium next Tuesday and guests will include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Kinyua, who is also State House chief of staff, said the money was enough for the function but some Kenyans feel it could have been assigned to key sectors.
This is especially since Treasury said weeks ago that it the county did not have money.
Concerns about the amount are informed by factors such as lack of facilities at hospitals, one of the reasons why nurses and doctors went on strike.
Doctors downed their tools for 100 days and nurses followed with a period of about five months. Clinicians joined nurses in their boycott.
They wanted their collective bargaining agreements implemented so they could get higher salaries and better working conditions.
Tens of people died during the strikes and last week,
a mother in Homa Bay lost five her babies
as the hospital where they were born did not have incubators.
Two of the babies died as World Pneumonia Day was marked and the others three days later.
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Perennial strikes, industry reforms
The health workers also wanted training and medicine in order to be able to offer quality services.
During the industrial action, Kenyans were forced to go to the more expensive private hospitals while others crossed over to Tanzania.
The nurse’s strike saw more than 500,000 newborns miss polio and measles
vaccines.
Red Cross secretary general Abbas Gullet said the consequences of missing on these two vaccines will be seen in the next one to two years if the matter is not addressed immediately.
He spoke yesterday in Mombasa during a stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the five-year ( 2012-2017 ) Global Fund HIV grant for Coast counties.
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President Uhuru Kenyatta takes the oath of office as First Lady Margaret holds a bible during the official swearing-in ceremony led by Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi, April 9, 2013. /REUTERS
The perennial teachers and lecturers' strike also come to the fore with an expenditure of this amount.
Lecturers went on strike on
November 1 in a demand for higher pay. On Thursday,
Treasury released Sh5.2 billion
for their salaries and housing allowances, restoring hope for learners.
Teachers also signed a deal that ended their strike but the question is whether industrial action will be taken again in future.
Other sectors that need more money for reforms include security, following numerous attacks by terror group al Shabaab; transport following accidents that have claimed the lives of many; and agriculture.
Kenya grappled with lack of maize this year, which resulted in a scandal, the supply of GOK products and imports from South Africa.
The country also faced a drought that left many people and animals dead or severely malnourished in several counties.
Sh74 million more
In 2013, the Committee on Assumption office demanded Sh1.2 billion from the Exchequer for Uhuru's swearing-in.
However, the then Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua disagreed with the team then headed by Francis Kimemia and slashed the sum to Sh279 million.
The judiciary also had a separate budget for the swearing-in held at Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani, on April 9, 2013, bringing the total cost of the event to Sh374 million.
Parliament has allocated a Sh9.8 billion budget for the presidency to spend during the 2017-18 financial year.
A total of Sh8.7 billion is to cater for recurrent expenditure, while Sh1.1 billion goes to development activities.
The Sh9.8 billion allocation was an increase by Sh1.02 billion compared to the last financial year.
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