The government has unveiled plans to install CCTV cameras in Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret to boost security in major business hubs.
The Treasury, in the 2019 draft budget policy statement, said the project will be funded within the next three financial years.
The project will be part of efforts to boost security and ward off terrorist attacks in populated areas, starting with fast-growing urban centres.
Treasury has set aside funding for the project which has been put under the governance, justice, law and order sector.
The sector has been allocated Sh200.8 billion, Sh211.3 billion, and Sh216.9 billion for financial years 2019/20 – 2021/22.
Kenyans have over time raised concerns on the failed surveillance projects in Mombasa and Nairobi since they were installed five years ago.
Recently, Nairobi Public Works executive Fredrick Karanja shocked the country with his admission that more than half of CCTV cameras in the city centre are not working.
He told the Nairobi county assembly Public Accounts Committee that City Hall cannot repair the cameras. They cost Sh437 million. The contractor had not handed the project over a Sh7.2 million debt.
The cameras were installed on Moi Avenue, Uhuru Highway, Kenyatta Avenue, University Way, Lusaka Road roundabout, and Tom Mboya Street by a Chinese firm - M/s Nanjing LES Information Technology. Those in Mombasa, which were part of the Sh15 billion Integrated Urban Surveillance project, are not operational in the wake of the town’s susceptibility to militant attacks. But the National Treasury has maintained that the surveillance system is working and is being used by the police to combat crime.
“The CCTV cameras in the city are working and have been in use by the police since 2014 and have led to reduced crime in the city,” the ministry said in its 2019 Draft Budget Policy statement seen by the Star yesterday
The ministry headed by Henry Rotich, plans to acquire more equipment for the police as well as equip the forensic lab.