Kenya is set to spend Sh4.45 billion on 903 Kenya Defense Forces soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The figure to rise to Sh6 billion if the troops stay beyond the initial six months.
This was revealed in a parliamentary motion that was in parliament to approve sending the troops to DRC.
“The Kenya Army is anticipating in an event that their stay will spill over for a period of one year, then the cost will rise to between Ksh5.5 billion to Ksh.6 billion.
It is however envisaged that international financing may be secured and the CS for Defense will appraise the House accordingly,” Koech said
The committee vice chair Abdullah Bashir who defended the motion said that peace initiatives are costly and added that they have already received a commitment for international funding.
He also defended the 4.4 billion being bankrolled from taxpayers.
“To ensure that our troops are comfortable in terms of their safety, it’s call upon the government to ensure that our troops are well equipped and that’s why we have additional funding which goes to the issue of equipment,” said Bashir.
Many legislators who spoke during the motion supported the initiative.
Others including Nyando Mp Jared Okello questioned why the government was set to disburse 4.4 billion yet many Kenyans were suffering from the ongoing drought.
Subscribe to our You Tube channel at Switch TV.
“We see people and livestock dying and our country has made an appeal for other countries to help us due to the situation. On the flip side we have some money to take our soldiers somewhere in a war that we have nothing to do with,” said Okello.
On July 7 the national security council approved sending the security consignment but the parliament had been closed and there was no house to approve it.
The East African Community countries, which Congo joined this year agreed to set up a joint force to fight Militia groups in DRC.
Read also:Kenya to receive Sh52.7 billion from IMF as part of the loan program
