Government sets aside Sh500 million to celebrate Kenya's 50th birthday

The Jubilee government has set aside sh500 million to celebrate Kenya's 50th birthday, known as the jubilee celebrations, which will held on the 12th of December.

According to the state house spokesman Manoah Esipisu, President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to the formation of another committee that will oversee the preparations and planning of events. This is after a committee that was formed earlier was disbanded.

Hassan Wario, Sports and Culture Cabinet Secretary, will chair the 19 member with Saima Ondimu serving as the committee’s executive director and secretary.

  “As you are aware President Kenyatta disbanded the committee tasked with arranging celebrations to mark our country’s 50 years of independence. The President has now agreed to the formation of a new 19-member steering committee,” Esipisu said.

Mr. Esipisu also noted that the Sh500 million is not exorbitant when compared to the Sh2.5 billion that had been proposed by the earlier committee that was disbanded. He, however, said that the figure is expected to go higher than that.

“As you recall, the budget was a particular issue of concern to the President. Dr Wario will work with a provisional budget of 500 million shillings. The private sector will be heavily involved in Kenya at 50 and we expect to see millions of private sector shillings in supporting the initiative,” Esipisu told journalists during the start of his weekly briefings yesterday at State House, Nairobi.

The committee is made up of 6 executive members and 13 non executive members. Apart form Dr Wario, other executive members will include James Kinyua, who will be the head of programmes and operations, a nominee from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to head protocol and Government reception and another nominee from the Interior ministry to serve as head of security and defence.

Benson Ndeta, the chairman of Savanah Cement will be among the executives, heading the fundraising and finance while Extreme Sports and Communications head, Hussein Mohamed, will serve as head of public relations and communications.

Ndeta and Hussein are expected to mobilise the private sector to contribute towards facilitating  a successful jubilee fete.