Cows being vaccinated.
There is no money allocated for President William Ruto’s much-touted national livestock vaccination, with the Treasury failing to set aside the first instalment of the Sh21 billion required to undertake the exercise in five years starting next year.
Disclosures in a report published by the National Treasury show that the State Department of Livestock did not get the Sh4.6 billion it required for the vaccination in the financial year starting July next year, despite the President’s directive.
Besides the financing of the vaccination, the agency tasked with developing the veterinary vaccines was also overlooked in the initial stages of the budget-making process despite the President's directive.
A team of public policy clustered into what is dubbed the Sector Working Group (SWG) did not allocate any funds to the national vaccination despite the State Department indicating that it needed Sh4.6 billion in one year and Sh21 billion in five years.
The Sh21 billion budget kitty for the vaccination is enough to fund the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NG-AAF), earlier known as CDF, for six years.
The failure to allocate funds for vaccinating 22 million cattle and 50 million goats has touched a raw nerve with the State Department for Livestock noting that they might be accused of disregarding a “presidential directive to undertake national vaccination”.
In total, the livestock department needs Sh21 billion in five years to inoculate cows and goats against two contagious transboundary diseases, which the government fears are likely to lock out Kenyan animals from the export market.
President Ruto wants livestock to be vaccinated against foot-and-mouth (FDM) and Peste Des Petitts (PPR), two highly contagious transboundary diseases that the government fears might lead to the death of millions of cows and goats and lock Kenya out of the export markets including oil-rich Gulf States.
“Continued losses attributed to these priority livestock transboundary animal diseases of great economic importance in terms of mortality, morbidity and restricted market access are enormous,” said the Livestock Department in a report published by the National Treasury.
“Non-implementation will also imply total disregard to a presidential directive to undertake national vaccination.”
There are different sector working groups, with the current one addressing ministries, departments and agencies affiliated to the areas of agriculture, rural and urban development (Arud).
Inputs from SWGs are used to prepare the Budget Policy Statement, the blueprint of the budget-making process as it sets ceilings for revenues and expenditures in a given fiscal year.
But in the financial year starting July, the Arud SWG did not allocate any resources to the national vaccination exercise.
The sector report also paints a picture of a moribund Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (Kevevapi), the public body that is mandated to locally manufacture the veterinary vaccines critical for the exercise.
The institution has also been denied the funds it needed, reflecting budgetary constraints as the government continues to grapple with huge debt payments amid dwindling revenues.
President Ruto launched the nationwide livestock vaccination exercise in November last year.
The vaccination, which is to start in January, has faced resistance from a section of the public who read mischief in the process.
The exercise has been shrouded by controversy, including remarks that it is a ploy by prominent climate change experts who want to reduce methane production from cows by stopping them from flatulence.
The State has denied these claims, noting the vaccination is aimed at controlling the spread of the two deadly diseases.
Because these diseases are highly contagious, the government insists that the past experience where each county has been carrying out its own vaccination campaign in case of an outbreak has not been effective.
“This has not been effective since there is a lot of movement of the livestock from one county to another and therefore it becomes a waste of resources if all the counties do not vaccinate,” said the outgoing Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Dr Andrew Karanja in a past interview.
Dr Karanja also allayed fears that the vaccines were to be procured from outside the country.
He noted that Kevevapi is well-equipped to provide veterinary vaccines for both the local and international markets.
However, in the Treasury report, the Livestock Department says Kevevapi is ill-prepared for the task.
The institute’s facilities, including the laboratory, are old and urgently need to be upgraded, said the State Department for Livestock.
To this end, the Livestock Department said the institute needs financing to the tune of Sh197.5 million to “procure modern equipment and renovate the current laboratory buildings,” the Livestock Department adds.
However, the institute has only been allocated Sh70 million in the upcoming financial year starting July next year, leaving it with a deficit of Sh127.5 million.
The nationwide vaccination programme, which is expected to kick off in January, has faced stiff resistance with the Kenya Veterinary Association has calling for the postponement of the exercise. The association said that the exercise has lost credibility, which means a lot of farmers will not embrace it.
“The government should pause the current exercise to allow for time for adequate public sensitization and to address concerns from Kenyans,” said the association in a statement.
However, the government insists that if vaccination is not undertaken, there will be more deaths, and the country’s livestock will be locked out of the export market.
Kenya exports most of its live animals to the Middle East countries of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Official figures show that the value of exported live animals last increased 65.8 percent to Sh2.895 billion.
Both the office of the President and the State Department for Livestock were not available to respond to our queries on the preparedness of the government to conduct this exercise in light of these shortfalls in financing.
A good size of Kenyans, especially those in the arid and semi-arid lands (Asals), rely on livestock for a living.
Outbreaks of such diseases as foot-and-mouth is commonplace among the livestock keepers.
Because some of the livestock keepers move around with their animals, the chances of transmission of the diseases rise.
