PRESS STATEMENT BY COMMUNICATION SECRETARY AND STATE HOUSESPOKESPERSON ON CABINET MEETING HELD 25 JULY 2013 President Uhuru Kenyatta today chaired a Cabinet meeting at State HouseNairobi. Cabinet reached decisions on a wide-range of issues: Housing Cabinet approved a plan by the NSSF to construct 30,000 Housing units on its1,000-acre farm in Mavoko. This is a Public Private Partnership (PPP)arrangement. A strategic partner will be identified to construct houses andbuild other amenities. The project is key to Government delivering on its pledgeto reduce the acute shortage of houses in our nation’s capital in line with theJubilee manifesto.Cabinet also agreed a cabinet sub-committee to explore the creation of anindustrial park on a PPP model to produce building materials to cater for low-income earners. NSSF revenue collection To improve efficiency in revenue collection by the NSSF, Cabinet authorized arequest by the Ministry of Labour for Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to collectmembers’ contributions on behalf of NSSF. This will boost revenues from thecurrent Kshs.600 million to Kshs. 12 billion. Cabinet directed all other StateCorporations and agencies that levy charges on their services to partner withKRA in the collection of such levies. Maternal health Cabinet was briefed on the progress made in the implementation of the freematernity services in Public hospitals. Cabinet noted with satisfaction gainsmade since the programme started 1 June 2013.Preference for delivery in public hospitals has almost doubled to 80 per centfrom 44 per cent previously. So far, there has been no deaths reported arisingfrom delivery complications. Cabinet directed the National Treasury to ensure funds earmarked for theprogramme are released on time to enable public health facilities cope with theincreased number of users. Nurses Cabinet approved the recruitment of 40 new health workers per constituency(including 30 nurses) – making for a total of 11,600 officers that accelerateservice delivery in this area. The number will be scaled to achieve the idealnumber of nurses required in the country. Port of Mombasa Cabinet was briefed on the progress made in improving services at the Port of Mombasa. Cabinet was pleased with improvements achieved in decongestingthe Port. It noted the increase in cargo cleared at the port 200,000 tonnes sofar in July from 160,000 tonnes in June. There are also improvements in truckmovement between Mombasa and Malaba.Cabinet directed that a similar be applied with immediate effect to improveservices in the country’s airports and border points in order to ensure a smoothflow of goods, services and passengers. Electricity generation Cabinet approved a proposal by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum towithdraw charges imposed on electricity generation, transmission anddistribution by Local Authorities and other Government agencies as these havehad the effect of escalating the cost of power. Cabinet noted that Kenya isfocusing on being a low cost energy country as a way of propellingindustrialization and attracting investments to the country.Cabinet asked the Ministry to focus on adding an additional 5000kws of powerto the National Grid in the next three months. This move will effectively reducethe cost of power to below 10 cents per kilowatt. Air services Cabinet approved bilateral air service agreements between Kenya and Angola,Kenya and Canada, and Kenya and Mozambique. This will allow code sharingbetween Kenya Airways and national carriers of the three countries.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:04:29 +0000
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