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"id": 1525847,
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"speaker_name": "Hon. Mbadi",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Treasury and Economic Planning",
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"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
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"content": "Sorry, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Perhaps I can now continue. Under education, I said that there is a US$ 22.3 million. Giving examples of where this money will have been spent or would be spent is improving early grade literacy across public primary schools. I want to single out that there was support to public Technical Vocational Education Training (TVETs) in Kilifi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Machakos to align training to industry needs, providing scholarships to the youth to attend TVETs and support for the newly established Open University of Kenya (OUK) to build systems for infrastructural, instructional delivery and establish partnerships with private sector and universities in the US and globally. Those are the areas where the education money was going to. Under governance, a number of issues are being dealt with, but the amount that was available for this was US$ 8.6 million. Under food security, it was a little higher, US$128 million and that is an equivalent of Kshs16.5 billion. This was supporting a number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and programmes, including Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, improved farming practises, county governments, NGOs and UN agencies and especially, Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) areas in providing food and relief to over 2.5 million people. The details are there. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the second question, what is the total funding requirement for each of the said programmes and could the Cabinet Secretary specify the amount of funds that you said was projected to provide in the Financial Year 2024/2025? The amount for the said programmes that I highlighted such as food, governance and education is approximately US$158.9 million, equivalent to about Kshs20 billion, while the total assistance, including health and the others is approximately US$ 405.4 million, which is about Kshs52 billion for the Financial Year 2024/2025, from USAID. As I have indicated, this includes other sectors such as health, economic growth, water and environment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is important to note that while Official Development Assistance (ODA) from USAID is aligned to our medium-term plan and supplement Government investments and largely benefits the people of Kenya, USAID contracts implementing partners, that is both international and local, are entities that bear the fiduciary responsibility because this funding is implemented by the implementing partners. The money, as I will state, does not come to our budget. Therefore, USAID support is not reflected in the budget. The National Treasury plays a subsidiary role in facilitating tax exemptions. This is something worth noting. This has been off-budget financing from USAID, however, they provide very critical services. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what interim measures has the Government put in place to address the funding gap that has emerged as a result of the freeze of foreign assistance from the USA, to ensure continuity of critical services? My response is as follows- Regarding the interim measures to address the funding gaps resulting from the freeze of foreign assistance from the USA, the Government has taken the following steps to ensure continuity of critical services- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}