Budget set aside for Uhuru, Raila run off – Rotich
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich on Thursday said adequate funds have been set aside to conduct a runoff election if none of the presidential candidates meets the threshold.
Speaking at Moiben in Uasin Gishu County, Mr Rotich, though ruling out the possibility of failing to get a clear winner next week, noted that the government had released necessary funds to the commission to run the elections, promising that there will be more if the elections go to a runoff.
“But if it happens, why not? We are ready since it is in our Constitution. We have the mandate to provide resources for that,” said the CS, after receiving automobile engineering equipment worth Sh170 million for the newly constructed Moiben Technical Training Institute.
HOTLY CONTESTED
Kenyans are set to go to elections on Tuesday in a hotly contested presidential race pitting incumbent President Kenyatta of Jubilee against Nasa’s Raila Odinga.
Mr Kenyatta beat the 50 per cent+1 mark by slightly over 8,000 votes in the last General Election.
If any of the candidates fails to achieve that mark, a runoff between the two leading contestants will be held within 30 days of the General Election.
Mr Rotich also assured that the state of the economy compared to previous general elections was strong.
“As you know, we have just come from the challenge of a severe drought, but by far and large the economy is stable,” he said.
The Cabinet secretary added that numbers in the first quarter showed a 4.7 per cent growth with expectations to grow at five per cent in the second quarter and achieve the 5.5 per cent target.
‘DON’T EXPECT CHALLENGE’
“We think after elections, things will move well and we don’t expect any challenge as we expect to conduct peaceful elections unlike other past elections where we had challenges and economic growth went down,” said Mr Rotich, noting that measures had been put in place to guard against investors fleeing because of uncertainties related to elections.
He was accompanied by the Vocational Training Principal Secretary, Dr Dinah Mwinzi, and area MP Silas Tiren.
Dr Mwinzi said the government was equipping 134 technical training institutes across the country.