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| President William Ruto held the first Cabinet meeting after reshuffling cabinet |
President William Ruto held the first Cabinet meeting under the broad-based government as he affirmed on the need for accountability and the fight against corruption in running all operations.
During the meeting held at State House yesterday, the Cabinet Secretaries were appraised on the progress of various Bills aimed at strengthening accountability in the country.
They were informed that the Bills are well on course, with Attorney General Dorcas Oduor now taking action to ensure necessary amendments are made and subsequently present to Parliament for necessary action.The meeting presented an opportunity for President Ruto to urge Cabinet members to actively take part in matters of national importance and not to specifically dwell on those that related to their respective ministries.
He also insisted on the need for CSs to take cabinet meetings and committees seriously, saying that they must take precedence over any other engagements.
The President pledged to ensure an accountable government and a robust fight against corruption.
As part of ensuring accountability, the Cabinet was appraised of the digitisation of government procurement, which has registered positive progress and is expected to be rolled out next year.
The statement also indicated that the process of cleaning up the government payroll through digitisation, with the human resource development plan is already developed and discussion on its implementation expected to commence soon.
During the meeting, the Cabinet was informed on the progress made on the issues that the President had committed to the country when he appointed the Cabinet, including digitisation of public procurement to make it transparent and digitisation of the government payroll to eliminate incidences of ghost workers.
Other issue discussed was the roll out of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), aimed at ensuring that all Kenyans have access to fully paid healthcare.
“UHC will be rolled out on October 1, and registration is ongoing. Already, 1.2 million Kenyans have registered, while 9 million members of the National Health Insurance Fund will transition to the new Social Health Authority,” the Cabinet was informed.
The Ministry of Interior was tasked with assisting in public education on registration and health benefits through the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO).
On the Hustler Fund, a government programme on financial inclusion, the Cabinet was informed that 250,000 beneficiaries have grown their personal loan limit and are now able to borrow Sh50,000.
“Some two million people faithfully borrow from the Hustler Fund every day. As a result, the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs plans to graduate them to an SME loan by the end of the year,” the statement indicated.
On subsidised fertilizers, the Government has indicated that some 522,000 bags have been procured and distributed for the short rains season in Central, Eastern and Western Kenya regions.
Similarly, plans are underway to ensure that fertiliser will be available on time for the long rains season next year.
The Cabinet was also briefed on various programmes and events including establishment of the Kenya Watershed Services Improvement Programme, National Wildlife Census, United Nations World Tourism Week as well as Mpox disease outbreak.
By Irene Githinji