Nairobi,KENYA:The government has allocated sh 325 million for the restoration of Fort Jesus museum .
That emerged during the presentation of 2018/2019 budget by National treasury Cabinet secretary Henry Rotich on Thursday at parliamentary buildings with one billion shillings being allocated to the Ministry of tourism ,sh 340 million allocated to sustain new markets ,sh 380 million for heritage and sh 325 million for restoration of Fort Jesus.
This comes as the government is building a sea well to prevent further erosion of the UNESCO listed monument into the Indian ocean .
However not all sectors are smiling about the new budget.
Kenyans yearning to buy guzzler vehicles with 3000 cc and above powered engines and MPESA users will brace themselves for the increase of tax levied on the vehicles they intend to buy and Mpesa transactions they will be engaging in.
The tax will also involve 12% on money transfer fees for MPESA transaction and transfers of more than sh 500,000 will attract excise duty of 0.05 percent.
The cabinet secretary proposed sh. 200 billion for the education sector 60.6 billion for the social protection ,and shs 68 billion for poverty reduction and protection of vulnerable groups.
Free secondary education will get a share of sh. 59 billion ;sh. 13.4 for free primary school ,two billion shillings for free feeding programs ,five billion for recruitment of new teachers in bid to seal teacher to pupils ratio .
To aid the fight against vandalism and theft of metal Rotich proposed an export levy of 20 percent on copper waste and scrap metals a measure which will protect local manufacturers .
The priority areas in the 2018 /2019 budget focused on ministries ,departments allied to Jubilee administration big four agenda which include universal Health care ,Food security ,Affordable and decent Housing ,and manufacturing sector.
Cumulatively the the big four agenda has been allocated sh. 1.065 trillion.
Development expenditure has been allocated 661.3 billion, consolidated fund 490 billion counties allocated shs 314 billion .
Rotich defended the status of debt in the country saying that it is health as it stands at 50 -60 percent indicating that it will be precarious if it touches as at 74 percent .
