Nairobi — Estimated expenditures for the country's prisons were cut by Sh810 million in the current financial year.

According to the 2007/08 estimates, the recurrent expenditure for the Prisons Service is Sh4,549,681,325, down from the approved estimate of Sh5,359,892,222 in the previous financial year.

Basic salaries for permanent employees at the penal institutions are estimated at Sh2,617,124,112, down from Sh2,679,332,962. Personal allowances paid as part of the salaries for the staff amount to Sh457,755,939 while personal allowances paid as reimbursements total Sh63,059,806.

Utilities, supplies and services are estimated to cost Sh294,000,000, down from Sh445,000,000 in the last financial year.

The estimates for prisons differ sharply from those of regular and administration police.

The budget for field administration police services for the current financial year is Sh4,395,589,593, up from Sh4,131,515,288 in the last financial year.

The cost of security for government buildings and offices, which is under the AP, is estimated at Sh285,441,846.

The net expenditure estimate for operations at AP headquarters is Sh287,545,530. Foreign travel and subsistence is Sh1 million while Sh12.8 million has been allocated to domestic travel.

Expenditure for the provincial administrative services is estimated at Sh102,724,650.

Of the gross expenditure, basic salaries for permanent employees take Sh64,388,229, personal allowances paid as salary Sh19,783,936, allowances paid as reimbursements Sh1,202,000 and specialised materials and supplies Sh100,000.

The budgetary estimate for the Police Department headquarters is Sh715,790,258. Basic salaries for permanent employees total Sh193,168,088 for the current financial year. The allocation for divisional field officers is Sh4,585,035,991 while the budget for the traffic section is Sh193,348,823.

Traffic police officers have their own mini-budget separate from that of the regular police who recently benefited from a risk allowance.

Basic salaries for divisional field officers amount to Sh3,313,278,651 and personal allowances paid as part of salary are estimated at Sh581,433,700. In the traffic section, basic salaries for permanent employees total Sh108,045,286 and personal allowances paid as part of salary (Sh25,271,806).