The Cabinet ended a two week working vacay on the 28th August and had its first Cabinet Meeting yesterday the 10^th of September. The focus areas of the meeting, according to a despatch released soon after, were an economic stimulus as well as seminal programmes and projects under the Big Four agenda. The following are highlights of the dispatch:-

Healthcare workers and other perks to Civil Servants

• Cabinet approved the Comprehensive Insurance Cover for all frontline workers.
• Cabinet ratified the Memorandum of Understanding for the Provision of Health Personnel between the Republic of Seychelles and the Republic of Kenya
• Enhancement of Group Personal Accident and Work Injury Benefit Act Cover
• Inclusion of Comprehensive Group Life Cover for all Civil Servants, including the NYS.

Increased protection from Gender Based Violence (GBV) 

• Inter-Agency Programme to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the context of COVID-19.
• Toll-free hotlines and various online and mobile applications to enable anonymous reporting of all incidents of Gender-Based Violence and all instances of abuse of Children’s Rights.

Access to credit by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

• Credit Guarantee Scheme to be operationalized in mid-October 2020 with an initial seed capital of ten billion shillings to be capitalized in two tranches fivr billion shillings in FY 2020/21 and FY 2021/22.
• Expected one hundred billion boost of the state’s contribution above by Development Finance Institutions and participating commercial financial institutions.

Affordable Housing

• Cabinet approved the implementation of the Mukuru Social Housing Project which is the first social housing programme in Kenya’s history
• The Mukuru Social Housing Project will cost fifteen billion and will consist of over 13,000 housing units in a partnership between the Government and private investors.
• The development of the ancillary infrastructure to the Mukuru Social Housing project has since commenced.

Kenya Micro and Small Enterprises Policy

An integrated business environment for the growth and development of stable and vibrant MSEs in Kenya

MOU to enhance market access for Kenyan coffee in Italy

• Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Associazione Caffé Trieste-Italy.
• Similar engagements within the other European Union (EU) countriesexpected.

Bamboo now under the Greening Campaign

Cabinet sanctioned the classification and designation of Bamboo as a scheduled crop under the Crop Act (No. 16 of 2013) to foster the commercialization of bamboo plants also in a bid to achieve a minimum 10% tree cover by 2020.

Other Memoranda, Policies and Bills considered

• Hosting of the 9th Edition of Africities Conference in 2021
• Industrial Research Development Institute Bill, 2020,
• Proposed Health Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020;
• Development of the Commuter Rail Line from the Nairobi Central Station to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
• The Kenya Global Partnerships for Education (GPE) Covid-19.