Kenya Works on Oil Revenue Management Plan

The Kenyan government, in anticipation of oil revenues to come, has begun working on a plan to ensure the hoped for revenues are used properly. Officials want to make sure that the benefits from its oil resources are used as a blessing and not a curse.

Kenya Finance Minister Njeru Githae told Engineering News that the Kenyan treasury had started drafting an oil revenue policy that will outline how oil revenue will be spent. The policy will be based on several other countries who have successfully managed to avoid the oil curse.

All the work on oil revenue policy is a result from an oil discovery in northern Kenya made by Tullow Oil and Africa Oil.

“For Kenya, the discovery will be a major blessing, and not a curse, [as has been the case in some] African countries. The oil will help turn around and modernize the economy. We will use the resource to lift our people out of poverty,” Githae said.