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A Kenyan parliamentary committee said the allocation of 83.5 billion shillings ($1 billion) for security in the 2012-2013 budget is insufficient.

"The funds allocated for national security are not enough, given the many threats the country is facing at the moment," Fred Kapondi, chairman of the parliamentary committee on administration and national security, said Wednesday (June 20th) on Kenya's Milele FM radio.

Although the government announced a plan in April to hire 7,000 new officers ahead of elections, provisions have only been made for 3,500, Kenya's Daily Nation reported.

To increase security, the government is taking steps to reduce the availability of firearms, including amending the Firearms Act to provide harsher punishments for illegal possession, Kenya's The Standard reported.

A Small Arms Survey report released Wednesday says there are as many as 680,000 illegal firearms in Kenya.

"The prevalence of these weapons is spread all over but we hope to take measures that will address the menace ahead of the general elections," said Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Internal Security Mutea Iringo.

Iringo said the conflict with al-Shabaab in Somalia has prompted the proliferation of illegal weapons. "We hope the ongoing operation in Somalia will bring sanity at large because it is the main source of this problem," he said.

If laws are amended, illegal gun holders may be jailed for life, whereas the current maximum is 15 years imprisonment, according to the Daily Nation.