Kenya faces budget cuts to finance war against Somali militants

The full impact of Kenya’s war on Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab started to emerge on Wednesday after the Kenyan treasury warned of possible spending cuts in some government departments to finance the effort.

A senior official at the finance ministry, Joseph Kinyua, indicated that while the intervention was necessary to deal with the threat that al-Shabaab posed to Kenya’s economy and security, the government, would need to re-work the budget to ensure that they are able to sustain the war.

Action against the terrorist group had been discussed by a number of security agencies in the country, and the decision to restrain al-Shabaab did not come as a surprise to many observers both local and international.

The tourism sector which earned Kenya US$ 730 million last year was at the risk of suffering the greatest setback after a British tourist, Judith Tebbutt, was abducted at a Lamu resort and her husband killed on September 11.

Another tourist, a French citizen Marie Dedieu, was abducted on October 1 by gunmen suspected to be from Somalia. She died this week.

Last week, suspected Somalia gunmen kidnapped two Spanish aid workers working as logisticians for the aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres from Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp.

Kenya deployed its troops along the Somalia border on Sunday before launching a ground and air offensive that has so far captured two small towns more than 100 kilometers into the neighbouring state.

Although the full impact of the war on Kenya’s economy is yet to be felt, it is expected to add a new layer of the many shocks the country has faced since January, including exchange rate turbulence and high rate of inflation.