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Witness Protection Agency (WPA) is seeking Sh10.2 billion to implement a five-year strategic plan it has developed to enhance execution of its mandate.
The agency, which on Thursday launched the 2023-28 Strategic Plan, indicated that it is faced with a shortfall of Sh4 billion since it’s expecting its total budgetary allocation during the period to be estimated at Sh6 billion.
WPA is expecting a budgetary allocation of Sh744 million in the 2023-24 Financial Year.
The agency is expecting the budgetary allocation to rise up to Sh2 billion by the end of the 2028 Financial Year.
The plan will guide the agency for the next five years and is a culmination of an all-inclusive, intense and rigorous process of listening and incorporating views and ideas from a wide spectrum of stakeholders.
The plan articulates the critical role the agency plays in the administration of criminal justice and seeks to consolidate past gains, identify new strategic priorities and unlock potential for regional and international collaboration in matters of witness protection.
WPA CEO Jedidah Waruhiu said the plan seeks to consolidate past gains, identify new strategic priorities, and unlock the potential for regional and international collaboration.
“Promotion of the rule of law was also a key consideration in developing this Strategic Plan. This is informed by the realisation that witness protection is a fundamental constitutional right to witnesses especially when they are threatened and intimidated because of the important information they hold,” the CEO said.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the emergence of complex crimes and public awareness about fundamental rights implores the agency to adopt the reformist approach in the discharge of its mandate.
In a speech read on his behalf by Principal Administrative Secretary Anne Ng’etich, Kindiki noted that the plan takes cognizance of the need for strategic interventions by the agency to improve performance to the expected national and international standards.
“I am glad to note that the agency is spearheading various amendments that will improve witness protection,” he said.
“For instance, gazetting of the Reciprocal Arrangements will provide the Agency with flexibility in witness relocation both regionally and internationally in the ever-changing complex witness protection environment.”
Operating since 2008, WPA promotes the rule of law by offering witness protection services in Kenya.
It provides special protection to threatened or intimidated witnesses to ensure their security and welfare is guaranteed when testifying in court. BY THE STAR