Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI/NATION Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) walks from Treasury to Parliament Buildings on June 8, 2011. He is accompanied by assistant minister Oburu Odinga (right) and PS Joseph Kinyua.
By JOHN KAMAU
Posted Thursday, June 9 2011 at 00:00
Posted Thursday, June 9 2011 at 00:00
A few hours before he went to present this year’s Budget Speech, nay ministerial statement, Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta had a wish-you-luck meeting in his office with his assistant minister, Dr Oburu Oginga, Financial Secretary, Mutua Kilaka, and Investment Secretary, Esther Koimett.
As he left, he updated his Facebook page. The documents on his desk showed that he had been going through the estimates books. Five copies, neatly tied, lay on his desk atop some rusty grey files.
A picture of his father, the late President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, sits on a separate bookshelf and below is a must-see Kanu insignia of a red cockerel.
A jovial Mr Kenyatta held a black iPad, Ms Koimett had her clutch-bag, while Dr Oburu had some loose papers.
It was the first day they were seeing off a minister go to deliver a budget proposal in his capacity as Cabinet Secretary under the new Constitution.
Mr Uhuru wanted the day to be different. While last year he arrived to deliver his Budget proposals in a Volkswagen Passat, this time round he opted to walk.
With him were Ms Koimett, Dr Oburu, his permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua, and Mr Kilaka. Mr Kenyatta has had a busy past few days.
On Monday, armed with an iPad, he spent some time with Mr Kinyua as they went through the numbers, polishing his speech and highlighting what ought to be emphasised, after a near-attempt to stop him from reading the Budget — first in the High Court and then in Parliament.
Ministerial statement
While the High Court dismissed a case brought by a civil society organisation which wanted Mr Kenyatta barred from reading the Budget, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Kenneth Marende, gave Mr Uhuru the green light to read a “ministerial statement” on the Budget — which was no different from Budget speeches read by his predecessors six of whom — President Kibaki, Prof George Saitoti, Mr Chris Obure, Mr Chris Okemo, Mr Musalia Mudavadi, and Mr Amos Kimunya — were in the House on Wednesday.
Last year, Mr Kenyatta — a graduate of Amherst College in the US— became the last minister to deliver the Budget under the old constitution, and Wednesday he became the first minister to deliver the document as Cabinet secretary.
While the pomp and colour that mark Budget day were missing, with the Budget statement tucked as part of the day’s proceedings, Mr Kenyatta enjoyed an uninterrupted session reducing to semantics whether the minister was to read a ministerial statement or a Budget speech.
Inside the House, President Kibaki watched as the boy he presented an award as the best “A” level history student in 1979 at St Mary’s School in Nairobi, went through the numbers, the same way he did from 1969 to 1983 when he was Finance minister under presidents Kenyatta and Moi.
On Wednesday, Mr Kenyatta’s emphasis lay on the vulnerable groups, bridging the taxation levels, and improving the role of agriculture in the nation’s economy.
For a man who emerged with an “O”Level Division 1 with a distinction in English, Mr Kenyatta will be walking a tight rope again this year as he tries to speed up growth in a difficult economic and political environment and as structures of the new constitution take shape.
His proposals will have to be scrutinised by both parliament and the public — as the new Constitution demands.
jkamau@ke.nationmedia.com
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