President Donald
Trump's proposed US spending plan generally spares Kenya from the deep
cuts the White House is seeking in the overall foreign assistance
budget.
The State
Department would have its budget slashed by 32 per cent under the Trump
plan released on Tuesday. Assistance to Kenya would be reduced by no
more than 10 per cent -- and probably less than that.
Moreover, there is
virtually no chance that Congress will approve the full magnitude of the
cuts Mr Trump is requesting in US aid to developing countries.
Most of Trump's
proposed funding reduction for Kenya -- from $711 million (Sh73 billion)
last year to $639 (Sh64 billion) million in the coming year -- reflects
his call to eliminate the Food for Peace Programme administered by the
US Agency for International Development (USAid).
Kenya received $53 million in Food for Peace assistance last year.
FOOD AID
But that envisioned
cut may not result in an actual loss of US food aid to Kenya. President
Trump wants to shift the focus of US food assistance to a $2.5 billion
worldwide disaster-response initiative that he says will adequately
address food crises despite a proposed $300 million reduction in this
form of aid.
Spending on disaster assistance programmes is not listed on a country-by-country basis in the White House budget documents.
The decision to
sustain funding for other types of aid to Kenya reflects Mr Trump's
stated intention to "support those countries and programmes that are
most critical to US national security and strategic objectives."
Some African
countries of less strategic significance to Washington will have US
development assistance eliminated entirely in accordance with the
president's "America First" approach to budget-making.
NEW PROGRAMME
But Kenya and a few
other sub-Saharan states would experience little or no reduction in
this broad form of aid, which the White House now places under a new
heading: Economic Support and Development Fund.
Kenya would receive
$83 million in fiscal 2018 through this renamed programme -- an amount
almost identical to what it got last year via the State Department's
development assistance account.
The State
Department's budget outline says this reworked funding mechanism "will
target the most important issues constraining Kenya's stability and
growth, including insecurity, economic inclusion, governance challenges
and access to clean water and sanitation."
Aid to Kenya will
additionally support "efforts to counter violent extremism and defeat
Al-Shabaab and ISIS incursions in the region, mitigate conflict, counter
wildlife crime, promote governance reforms, and enhance economic
opportunities for rural households to access markets."
FIGHTING TERRORISM
Mr Trump's emphasis
on combating militant groups such as Al-Shabaab is highlighted by a
$4.5 million "anti-terrorism assistance" programme for Kenya.
The budget outline
says this funding "will help professionalise Kenya's counterterrorism
law enforcement community to build capacity in the areas of land border
security (especially the country's border with Somalia),
counterterrorism investigations and counterterrorism crisis response."
The White House
also sets aside $1 million to help curb "corruption and violent
practices by some Kenyan security forces." Lawless behaviour on the part
of police is said to "contribute to instability and foster discontent
among citizens, potentially leading to radicalisation."
US funding for Aids
treatment and other healthcare programmes in Kenya would drop slightly
under the Trump budget -- from a total of $565 million in fiscal 2016 to
$550 million in the coming year.
APPROVE BUDGET
Despite the White
House's proposal to leave funding for Kenya largely intact, the country
would experience fallout from spending reductions Mr Trump aims to
achieve in several international aid initiatives.
The president is
calling for elimination of the African Development Foundation that uses
$1.4 million of its $30 million total budget to promote food security
and agriculture in Turkana County.
Mr Trump also wants
to scrap other US government entities that seek to facilitate
investment in and trade with developing countries, including Kenya.
US funding for a
range of United Nations programmes, such as efforts to mitigate the
impact of climate change in Africa, would likewise be ended or sharply
reduced if Congress were to rubber-stamp the budget plan Mr Trump is
submitting.
That outcome is unlikely, however.
WITHDRAW
The
Republican-controlled Congress earlier this month refused to accept in
the current fiscal year many of the same foreign-aid cuts the president
now wants to impose in the 2018 fiscal year that begins in October.
The 32 per cent USAid and State Department cut Mr Trump is again urging will almost certainly not be approved by Congress.
Senator Lindsey
Graham, chairman of a panel that formulates budgets for US overseas aid
programmes, warned on Tuesday that the extreme scale-back sought by Mr
Trump "means you really have to withdraw from the world because your
presence is compromised."
"That may be the goal of this budget," Senator Graham said in regard to the plan offered by Mr Trump. "It's not my goal."
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