President William Ruto concludes his high-profile visit to the United States with numerous deals signed alongside President Joe Biden.
Ruto returns to Kenya this weekend bringing commitments totaling over Kes.52 billion ($395.15M) from various U.S. departments and agencies to support Kenya’s development projects.
The U.S. has allocated nearly Kes.5.3 billion ($40 million) to Kenya for democracy, human rights, and governance, and another Kes.93 million ($700,000) to support operationalizing the Public Benefits Organization Act.
USAID announced an additional Kes.173 million ($1.3 million) for the youth empowerment program aimed at strengthening political engagement at the subnational level, and Kes.80 million ($600,000) to advance disability inclusion.
America also plans to support Kenya’s Anti-corruption efforts with Kes.66 million ($500,000) for a new Fiscal Integrity Program, and another Kes.66 million ($500,000) to expand the reach and effectiveness of anti-corruption advocacy.
“To support the Government of Kenya to combat corruption, the Administration is providing Kes.33 million ($250,000) through the Global Accountability Program, and Kes.40 million ($300,000) to support Kenya’s proposed Whistleblower Protection law to strengthen Kenya’s anti-corruption legal architecture. In addition, USAID has provided Kes.358 million ($2.7 million) to support the improved enforcement of policy and laws that deal with fraud, waste, and abuse in the delivery of public services to Kenyan citizens,” the White House stated.
Furthermore, the U.S goodie bag includes reforms in Kenya’s electoral process, with Kes.199 million ($1.5 million) provided to support Kenya’s electoral process by strengthening the election commission, political parties, and campaign finance.
Moreover, America will support Kenya in developing the digital superhighway to enable a holistic view of healthcare delivery. Kes.4.1 billion ($31 million) will be provided to build and deploy digital health solutions to support disease programs in Kenya.
The US announced a new Kes.929 million ($7 million) partnership to advance and strengthen the modernization and professionalization of Kenya’s National Police Service.
Additionally, the United States of America will provide Kes.650 million ($4.9 million) in new funding for Kenya and other East African countries to improve cooperation and coordination in combating criminal networks and holding criminals accountable.
The Biden administration will also inject Kes.1.3 billion ($10 million) direct loan to Kenyan company Hewa Tele and two rounds of equity investment totaling Kes..531 million ($4 million) to Kasha Global.
Additionally, the U.S. will support the Kenyan education sector by providing Kes.66 million ($500,000) to support the development of Kenyan students, scientists, researchers, and engineers.
An additional Kes.40 billion ($300,000) will support women’s entrepreneurship and gender equity in the Kenyan energy sector, with Kes.478 million ($3.6 million) committed to accelerating the connection of homes, businesses, and institutions in Kenya to cleaner electricity.
Furthermore, other investments will focus on hydropower projects and transitioning to zero-emissions vehicles in Kenya.
Kenyan-owned private companies have also received support. For example, a Kes.66 million ($500,000) technical assistance grant has been announced to build a proprietary credit scoring model to support Pezesha Africa Limited.
Additionally, a Kes.6.8 billion ($51 million) loan will be issued to asset financing platform M-KOPA to support smartphone receivables and cash loans, aimed at enhancing the affordability of M-KOPA’s devices for low-income borrowers.
