Business
Kenya: Kimunya's Plan to Create 15,000 Jobs
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Jun 17, 2008 - 12:50:20 PM

At least 15,000 new jobs will be created in the public sector in the coming financial year.

According to the 2008/2009 Budget read by Finance Minister Amos Kimunya last Thursday, most of these jobs will be created in the Internal Security, Education and Health ministries.

Nearly 8,000 jobs will go to the Administration Police department, which played a major role in tackling post-election violence early this year.

Six thousand new teachers and 1,000 new nurses will be hired.

Sector revival

Apart from various service ministries - Education, Health and Internal Security, which are set to beef up their personnel, thousands of other Kenyans will benefit from jobs in newly-created ministries following the formation of the Grand Coalition government.

There are also plans to create more jobs through the revival of various sectors and provide financial support to young people through the Youth Enterprise Fund.

Hundreds of National Youth Service graduates will also be absorbed into the armed forces and in road construction.

Mr Kimunya raised the Ministry of Defence's budget from Sh39 billion to Sh42 billion.

Close to 8,000 new police officers are to be recruited using part of the Sh5.9 billion more allocated to the Internal Security Ministry.

In the Ministry of Medical Services, 600 nurses currently working on contract will be employed on permanent basis and another 1,000 hired, to address the shortage of health workers.

The combined allocation for Health - the ministries of Medical Services, and Public Health and Sanitation - now stands at Sh32.9 billion from Sh34.4 billion during the 2007/2008 financial year.

The National Nurses Association of Kenya chairman, Mr Luke Simba, describes the proposed employment of 1,000 nurses as " a drop in the ocean".

Shortage

"At the moment, we require more than 2,000 nurses to address the serious shortage of health workers in our public health facilities.

"This shortage has compromised the provision of quality healthcare services in our hospitals," he said.

In the Ministry of Education, 6,000 teachers are to be recruited in August and 7,000 promoted to Principal Graduate Teacher II.

Education minister Sam Ongeri admitted that the country's public schools needed 60,000 new teachers to address the current shortfall.

Of these, 47,000 are needed in primary schools and 13,000 in secondary schools.

However, the Government will only employ 6,000 this year, down from 8,000 last year.

Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary General Francis Ng'ang'a also termed this as a drop in the ocean and called on the Government to commit more funds for the hiring of teachers.

He said the quality of education in public schools was wanting due to the teacher shortage.

"The rich are taking their children to private schools due to declining standards in public institutions, arising primarily due to an acute teacher shortage," he said.

The Administration Police (AP) department would benefit the most since almost the more than 7,800 of the new recruits are to be absorbed by the unit.

More than Sh1 billion was allocated to the Administration Police Training College (APTC) for basic salaries compared to less than Sh250 million in 2007/2008 financial year.

In effect, the number of police constables at the college will rise from the current 2,809 to 10, 629.

It also showed that more than 600 officers would be promoted in the current financial year.

Of those to rise in rank, it further reveals, 562 would come from the AP.

Minimal changes have been budgeted for the other departments in the Internal Security ministry.

Besides the regular annual recruitment, some 3,500 National Youth Service graduates currently undergoing police training are to join the Administration Police in August, after five months at the Naivasha training camp.

According to international standards, a country's police to population ratio should be 1:400 while in Kenya's is estimated to be 1:1,100.

Currently, the AP has 22,000 officers, while the regular, General Service Unit (GSU) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have a combined force of less than 40,000 officers.

Details of emoluments and allowances for officers contained in the estimates indicate the AP benefited the most out of the additional funding - receiving Sh4 billion.

The rest is shared between regular police and the GSU, with allocations of Sh1.5 billion and Sh400 million respectively.

The allocation of the regular police comprises that for the CID.

A key proposal of the budget was to boost the morale of police officers by allocating Sh2.8 billion for decent housing.

According to Mr Kimunya, the Government would rely on a more efficient police to ensure the economy grows.

"The security of our country is central to our social economic well-being," he said.

Combined force of Administration and regular police, the GSU and the CID will spend more than Sh35 billion.

The amount is more than three-quarters of the Sh43 billion given to the ministry of Internal Security and Provincial Administration.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is also expected to recruit more officers following an addition Sh3 billion it received.

The money will also cater for risk allowance and salary adjustments to staff.

The Public Service Commission got Sh378 million for recruitment of staff, among other things, while the Kenya National Audit office was given Sh178 million for the same purpose.

More indirect jobs are to be created in the Ministry of Roads where Sh65 billion has been allocated for rehabilitation and maintenance of roads.

The NYS is to be used in construction of Garissa-Hola road.

The Youth Enterprise Fund received a Sh500 million increment to help more young people start income-generating activities.

The government further hopes to create 10,000 jobs through information and communications technology.

It has set aside Sh900 million for establishment of large Business Process Outsourcing in Nairobi.

Source: The Nation (Kenya)