President William Ruto has allocated the security sector a total of Sh338. 2 billion in his first budget as Head of State.
According to Treasury and National Planning CS Njuguna Ndung'u, the amount will be shared among the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), National Police Service (NPS), National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Kenya Prisons Service (KPS).
Njuguna said the KDF will take the lion's share of Sh144.9 billion followed by the National Police Service with Sh98.6 billion.
The NIS will have a share of Sh44.3 billion and the Prisons Service will part with 31.3 billion.
In other allocations, Sh8.8 billion will be used for leasing police vehicles to allow easy movement and another Sh500 million will be used to modernize police equipment.
To aid in the administration of Justice, Sh856 million will go to equipping the National Forensic Library and another Sh534 will be retained by the KDF for their housing.
Ruto has also set aside Sh2.9 billion for Group and personal insurance for the National Police and Prison services. They will also get Sh5.8 billion for medical cover.
The allocation is a significant increase from last year's allocation to the security docket which was at Sh317.8 billion.
Ruto’s administration has proposed a Sh3.6 trillion for the Financial Year 2023/2024 with a Sh700 billion deficit to be financed through borrowing.